Pack Conspiracy
by Taygon55
Summary: Joining the Titans is hard enough. They must also struggle with the burdens of their parents, Garfield and Raven Logan. Their strange mix of powers will either ruin them or establish them as great heroes. On top of all that, they don't know who sees them as teammates and who fears them as threats to the Earth itself. Incomplete cover art by me.
1. Morning Uproar

To anyone reading this after I changed the rating, know that I changed it down from M. Even with some cursing jokes and blood I still felt no ill will for showing this to my 13 year old sister. I feel like the system is a little skewed for that stuff so treat it as teen+ because I think that's a more fitting place. with that here is the original forward.

This is a herculean task for a first fic, but as I tried my hand at writing I quickly learned that I either go hard or go home. This is what came from just a few ideas popping into my head coalescing into this multi arc mess.

Some details I should clear up. I will use _some_ of the cartoon's canon as well as canon from every incarnation, thus making my _own canon._ Treat this as any new continuity in comics: anything is possibly canon, until it is directly stated to not be canon. Schrodinger's canon. I obviously want this to be in the spirit of the show because it was my gateway into buying damn near every current run on DC's listing, but I still want to honor the other great stories that only appear in the pages and panels and not just the small screen.

This could mean many things to various fans of the cartoon. One is that I will not be treating Terra kindly, if I ever do some flashbacks. She is an unapologetic sociopath in the comics and while I will use elements from the show, I will lean more towards the comic dynamic, or at least the DVD dynamic where she is a little apologetic. Just a tad.

Another thing to set straight is that the only OCs I will be using are the six introduced here. Any other mainstay character I introduce will have already existed, in some form or another, in a animated series or comic.

Anyways, I'm new to being on this side so we'll see how this goes.

This is truly only the beginning.

* * *

The sun shined through the fabric of dark blue curtains that lined the windows overlooking Jump City. The room was dark, with various Gothic furniture. On the wall by the entrance was a bookcase with two chairs and a table to enjoy the various books, both literature and comic. Against both walls opposite the entrance were dressers, one with a vanity mirror above it. In between them was a canopy bed that, instead of curtains, had carved wood that seemed to imitate both the folds of gothic drapes and the vines of a jungle canopy.

On this bed lay two figures, bodies curled around one another in their sleep. The sun basked them and stirred one of them from her slumber. Dark violet hair was rustled as the owner came into the world of the conscious, rubbing her face into the fabric in an effort to wake faster. After a few moments of stillness she started to rise, at least until the accompanying figure tightened his grip around her waist, pressing her against his green chest.

"Garfield." She said, her accusing edge dulled from the morning grogginess. "We have a long day ahead of us. We need to get up."

A simple huff that blew her hair into her face was her response.

"You know that stalling is playing with fire. They won't want to be kept waiting." She chided him again.

The arms around her torso stiffened. A groan came from over her shoulder. "They can wait a little longer, Raven. I want a few more minutes alone with you."

Raven couldn't help but let the corners of her lips curl up in a small smile. She shifted in her lover's arms, his stiff hold on her loosening a fraction to accommodate her task, and cupped his face with the hand that wasn't pressed against his chest, the metal band on her ring finger shining in the morning light. His eyes were half lidded, somehow glowing with determination to stay in bed and sleep.

"We have a lot of things to do on top of the big changes that are happening this week." She gently told him.

"Don't remind me." He said, closing his eyes again.

"Paperwork and meetings." Her gentleness fading into a teasing tone, her eyes shifting side to side as she began listing off tasks.

"Raven!" He warned, his lips curled in a playful smirk.

"Training and pape-"

Whatever was left of her list was captured by Garfield's lips. They both smiled into the kiss before Garfield pulled away.

"I just want to spend a few more minutes with my wife." He said, leaning in again.

Before he could close the distance a thump sounded from the direction of their door. As they turned to the source of the disturbance, an object violently collided into the small space between the married couple.

"Good morning!" The offending object shouted.

Raven glanced at the door. Between the foot of the bed and the entry was an overturned chair that she used to relax with a book most nights. Though it seemed that the young girl that was now lounging nonchalantly on top of the covers had used it as a springboard.

"Sesha." Raven said, her voice dangerously calm.

The teen only started laughing.

"Come on, mom! You two can't suck face in bed all day!" The pale green skinned teen exclaimed. "You two promised the pier!"

She brushed back some of her choppy bangs out of her eyes, disheveled from her leap onto the bed. Her face was twisted with laughter, framed by her messy dark, almost black, green hair. Her pajama shirts velvet threads danced in the light as her chest shook with her chortles.

Raven collapsed back onto the bed and rubbed her temples. "We promised to do a lot today so just give your dad and I some time to get ready, Sesha." She said.

A foxy grin spread across Sesha's face. Unfortunately for Raven, her eyes were squeezed shut. Were they not, she would have known that this smile meant that her daughter was about to say something regrettable.

Sesha crossed her arms and spoke. "Give you time? To get ready? Or to get freaky?"

Raven's eyes snapped open and she made to grab Sesha by one of her pointed ears. Her fingers met nothing but air as a small green bat flew to the foot of the bed and resumed the form of her daughter.

"Sorry, sorry." She said with waves of laughter shaking her shoulders. She bent down and righted the chair that she had toppled.

Her peals quieted when something between a growl and a moan came from the male on the bed. Until then the mother and daughter had almost forgotten that he was there with how quiet he was, which in and of itself was concerning. The two females quirked their brows at him as he curled into himself under the covers.

"Uuuh. You okay, dad?" Sesha said as she leaned forward, her head tilted in concern.

Even with her husband blocking the pain from reaching her and her daughter's empathy, Raven knew what had happened almost immediately.

"You know I don't like you hiding your pain, Garfield." She said as she started to rub circles on his shoulder, the only soothing she was willing to do. She wasn't about to start healing _that_ area while there was an audience.

"Like I wanna share _this_." Garfield said through clenched teeth.

Sesha faltered for a moment as her father's fetal position finally clicked in her mind.

"Oops." She hissed the 's' sound between bared teeth like a whistle.

Garfield's head slowly turned towards her daughter, his pupils slits. "'Oops'?" He growled, "'Oops' is all you have to say?"

Sesha gave a dramatic jump backwards. "Whoa. Watch out! Dad gets testy if you hit 'em in the testes."

Her parents both rounded on her. "Sesha!"

But she was already out the door, making whooping sounds while her hands shifted into the shape of lobster claws.

"We let her watch too many late night cartoons." Garfield said, barely even believing that the sentence came out of his mouth instead of his wife's.

Raven had resumed rubbing her temples for the third time. "You know we can't stop her in the internet age. Besides, being part demon with your sense of humor? I'd say we got off easy."

Garfield raised a brow at her self deprecating observation. His concern turned to mirth when she had stopped given her temples a massage to give him a sidelong smirk. He started to chuckle and soon after they were both laughing, though Raven was more reserved in her buoyancy.

They were taken out of their moment by a knock on their door frame. They both looked to see a boy standing in the doorway with a small smile on his pale green lips. The two returned his smile, still riding the coattails of their laughter.

"Good morning, Conrad." Raven greeted.

Conrad yawned as he ran a hand through his shaggy green hair and he addressed the two in the room.

"Morning mom, dad. She wake you?"

The two shook their heads.

"Already awake, huh? She do anything unruly?"

Raven nodded and Garfield explained. "Dive bomb knee between my legs."

Conrad sucked air through his teeth, crossing his legs. "She say anything weird?"

Raven raised her brow at the obvious rhetorical question while Garfield held up two fingers.

Conrad's hand slapped his face. "She is so weird! If we weren't both green I would ask for a blood test!"

The couple turned to give each other a knowing look as Conrad's hand slid down his face.

"But as weird as she is . . . " He started, his hand still pulling his eyelids down and his palm covering a smirk.

His parents turned their eyes back to him in a silent gesture to continue. Conrad's hand finally fell and swung at his side.

"A dive bomb, you say? Does that mean she was actually able to sneak up on you two? Impressive that she hid herself from an empath and someone with heightened senses."

Their eyes widened as they looked at each other and Garfield started to stumble for a subject change.

"Just go get ready for the pier. Your mom and I have to get ready." As the words came out of his mouth, Garfield had a sinking feeling that the conversation with their son was gaining a similar flow with that of his wife's conversation with their daughter just a few minutes prior.

Conrad chuckled a bit and started to follow his sister down the hall, but not before poking his head back into his parents' view. "Either she's getting sneakier, or you two were preoccupying each other with something."

He ducked down the hall before he saw their reaction, but he at least heard his father's.

"Even without the skin I don't think a blood test would be necessary!"

Raven sighed with a smile and shook her head in slight incredulity. She swung her legs over the side and stood. "Come on, we've most likely awoken the rest of the house by now."

Garfield shrugged. "The twins can sleep like a pair of rocks. So not the _whole_ house."

He made to follow his wife, with some hesitation as he was still recovering from his injury.

Raven walked to the doorway leading to the bathroom. "Let's take a shower. I'll heal you, too."

Garfield's ears perked up. "Together?" He said with his eyebrows wiggling.

Raven stopped and turned her head to her husband. "Whoa. Down beast. To save time. We have children to keep up with."

Even though he knew nothing would happen, he still leaped from the bed towards the bathroom. It wasn't everyday that Raven suggested they shower together.

As the shower started, there was a faint sound of a slap and a yelp.

"Garfield! Not now!"

"Later?"

Only an exasperated groan responded.

Less than thirty minutes later, Garfield was trudging down the stairs. Raven, however, was almost done dressing in the room he just walked out of.

As he made his way to the kitchen, he became aware of two things. A delicious aroma and the ring of familiar voices. Remembering what happened the last time he heard one of the voices he put up his mental barriers taught to him by both Mento and his wife. After being in a family full of empaths for years, one learns to shield their mind. Once he was confident that they were unaware of his approach he peeked around the corner into the kitchen.

The first figure he saw was at the counter. Sesha was grumbling over the stove stirring two pans with her head rolled back in boredom.

A voice that Garfield couldn't see the owner of made her head jerk up. "Careful with the sauce! Don't want a repeat of what happened last time."

Sesha paused in her stirring and turned to the voice. "Ulrich, might I remind you that it was Willow who screwed it up last time. Not me."

Conrad's voice spoke up with an accompanying bark of laughter. "You let her distract you when she flaunted her high score."

Sesha scoffed. "Hey! I'm the eldest and I must defend my position atop the scoreboards!"

"Really showing off those extra minutes of maturity you got on Conrad and I, sis."

"It's 'and me', Ulrich. 'You got on I' doesn't sound right, does it?" Conrad said simply.

Sesha laughed triumphantly and pointed her mixing spoon at where Garfield assumed Ulrich stood. Afterwards she turned back to the stove to continue stirring, yet with much more vigor than before. She took a whiff of the two pans.

When she almost filled her lungs with her long inhale she froze.

"Uuuuuh." She muttered. "Hey dad."

There was a pause as Garfield peaked around the corner to look into the kitchen.

"Aw, dude! You're getting better at sneaking past us." Ulrich said.

"And it comes full circle." Conrad said.

Finally looking fully into the kitchen Garfield was able to see just what they had prepared. A huge plate of still steaming waffles was on the counter next to Ulrich. Of the three teens in the room, he was the one who took the most even ratio of traits from both his parents. His green hair framing his face in a similar fashion to his mother, albeit with a more choppy and disheveled cut. While he had his father's eyes, the way they looked back at their predecessor was more akin his wife than a mirror.

Conrad stood next to him with a plethora of utensils, all in the grasp of dark emerald crows, silently flapping their ethereal wings.

Sesha stood in front of the stove, busying herself with finishing what Garfield saw to be strawberry and blueberry sauce.

"So." Garfield started. "This a 'sorry' for how you woke me up?"

"I got up early to do this. What are yo-" Ulrich started, but cut himself off at Sesha's reaction to the question.

Sesha didn't look up from the stove. She only dipped her head and reached to grab a pair of bowls on the counter next to her, moving as little as possible in her actions to do her task.

Conrad snickered and his mirth seemed to permeate to his constructs as they jingled the silverware in their beaks together.

"Sis, what did you do this time?" Ulrich asked, crossing his arms.

Garfield leaned nonchalantly on the entryway frame and pretended to examine his claws, flexing them in and out of their sheathed and extended position.

"Yes, _daughter._ What did you do?"

Sesha groaned. "It was an accident, okay. I didn't have much time to aim where I landed and it was already near impossible with you two all tangled up in each other."

Ulrich raised a brow. "You jump on top of him or something?"

"Yeah, more specifically my knee did."

Urich scrunched his face up in a small wince. "Ow? Where did you . . ." Ulrich tapered off. "You didn't."

"I'm sorry!" She nearly yelled.

"I'm not the one to apologize to!"

"I did say-!" Sesha's face reddened, "Oops."

Her fellow triplets put a finger and thumb to the bridge of their noses.

"And you brag about being the oldest all the time." Conrad said.

Ulrich just took the hand against his face and motioned it towards their father, who was still quietly pretending to clean his claws. Sesha turned to him, her head swaying with it loose on her shoulders, with a look of self-pity on her face.

"Sorry, dad." Sesha said while rubbing the back of her neck.

Their father only wordlessly walked over to her, a gentle smile on his face. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and opened his mouth to accept the apology.

And also proceeded to grind his knuckles into the top of her head.

"I forgive you!" He shouted with glee over Sesha's protests, dragging the final word as he accelerated his knuckles over her scalp.

Conrad and Ulrich shared a glance before shrugging and turning to set the table with food, plates and cutlery.

"Guys! Ow! Help! He morphed scales on his knuckles! Ow!" She yelled, trying in vain to squeeze out of her father's grip. For a few moments she fruitlessly transformed into animals, but no matter the form her father's grip stayed firm. Wither wolf, eagle, lion or even a pachycephalosaurus, he was just as quick to adapt his own appendages to accommodate whatever form she took.

The two brothers continued to set the table, the cloud of bird constructs placing forks and knives besides the plates that Ulrich put atop place mats.

"Fine." She grunted, still the helmeted dinosaur, "Uncle. Uncle!"

Immediately Garfield stopped. He patted the dinosaur on the top of her armored skull and by the third pat, transitioned to ruffling her already strewn hair.

"Careful with your claws. We don't want to replace the hardwood. Again." He said as he stepped back towards the entryway of the kitchen.

"Which is why we suggested masonry. There's already not a single thread of carpet in the house." Ulrich said, still not looking up from his task.

Garfield turned to the three of them. The boys had finished with the table, the large breakfast ready to be eaten by their equally large family. Sesha was trying to tame her hair by running her hands through it, it's unruly nature unimpeded by the attempt.

"Let's go get the rest of the litter." Garfield said.

Sesha snorted and the triplets followed their father up the stairs to the hallway that connected the two rooms that belonged to the teens. There they saw a small blond boy with bed-head who was walking to the bathroom that also lined the hall.

"Ethan. You're up!" Sesha said cheerfully as she jogged down the hall, passing the girl's room, and pinched the young boys cheek. When the fact that his peach skin was slick with morning drool registered she retracted her hand with an over dramatic sound of disgust and wiped the slick appendage on Ethan's shoulder.

"But you still need a shower."

Sesha did one last wipe on Ethan's shoulder with a flourish. The boy raised a tired brow at his sister before giving her a shove that Sesha returned in kind. The two of them had smiles on their faces when Sesha spoke again.

"Go take a shower ya twerp."

The blond boy waved her off as he started to make his way to the bathroom.

As he walked down the hall, Sesha turned around to see her other brothers in front of the bedroom she shared with the two remaining siblings. They knocked on it's surface beside a 'beware of dog' sign, the small silhouette of a doberman having been customized with paint to give it two pairs of red eyes.

"You two ready in there?" Ulrich called through the door.

"Keep your pants on! We're almost done." A voice much more demure than Sesha's said.

Conrad raised a brow. "Almost? You two _almost_ had Ethan beat you getting ready, and you girls have the conjoined bathroom."

A voice much like the first, yet with a slightly more animated tone that gave the impression that it's owner had a smile on her face, answered.

"Oooooh," It cooed sarcastically through the door. "Sparing us having to walk down the hall. What an advantage!"

Sesha threw her arms up and quickly strode up to the door and gave it a single stern smack with her knuckles. "Come on you two. These two might respect your privacy, but this is my room too. Don't make me drag you out, no matter how decent you are."

The two voices simultaneously droned out with a defeated tone.

"Fine! Just give us a few more seconds!" The first voice said as a rapid rustle of clothing seemed to preoccupy the other.

There was a beat of silence before the door swung open and a figure barreled out of the room, knocking into Sesha.

"Sweet Azar!" Sesha cried at the sudden spontaneity of her younger sibling.

After the mint green blur's stopped she grabbed the eldest sibling by her shoulders, her long emerald ponytail whipping around still carrying momentum.

"Fast enough for ya?" She said, a feral glint in her eyes.

Sesha shrugged off the grip on her shoulders. "Almost."

The pony-tailed girl turned her head to look at the family all grouped in the hallway.

"Why are we all just standing here? Let's go get some breakfast!"

Ulrich looked down the hall, having registered in the back of his mind that their father had silently departed sometime after coming up the stairs with them. A quick scan placed him back in the master bedroom with their mother.

"It seems dad is going off to procrastinate with mom again. We already made breakfast, but let's wait for them before we start eating." He said.

The girl shrugged in response. "Never stopped me before."

Sesha made to grab her but in the time frame it took to extend her arm, her sister had melted into green hued darkness. Seconds later a squeal of jubilation sounded from the kitchen. Ulrich sputtered in protest before he gave chase.

"Willow! I said wait!"

Sesha gave a bark of laughter while Conrad had a laugh building in his own throat as well.

Sesha looked like she was going to say something but was plowed into again by a pale girl with violet pigtails instead of a ponytail like her twin.

"What I miss?!" She said as she finished putting her pale arm through the sleeve of her shirt.

Sesha rubbed her shoulder and swiftly jabbed her sister in the shoulder in return.

"You missed the terror twins throwing caution to the wind and running me over!" Sesha emphasized her overdramatic description by arching jazz hands in front of her face, then throwing both then up indignantly at the end of her assertion.

"Hey, you wanted us to go fast. Don't get testy when we do what you ask." The younger girl fired back, rubbing her own shoulder in a similar fashion as her eldest sibling, her hand quickly flashing a calming blue that dispersed whatever pain gained from her sisters punch.

Sesha flinched at a certain word in her sister's rant and palmed her face when Conrad laughed behind her.

"Had to say that word didn't ya, Desiree." Sesha said with a wry smile, then turned to Conrad.

"You heard that one?" She asked rhetorically.

Desiree perked a violet brow. "Heard what?"

Conrad chuckled. "Dude, she was cooko this morning, Dez. I only caught the tail end of her third joke and watched her run down the hall with claws for hands."

Desiree only lifted her suddenly green brow higher. Her palette had, within a second, turned green and she lifted her hand. It's nails were now long and pointed.

Conrad shook his head.

"No, no. Big, meaty," He lifted his own now inhuman hands to display a set of crustacean pincers. "Claws."

Desiree stifled a laugh behind her, pale once more, hands. "Oh Azar."

Sesha walked up between them and slung her arms around them. "We get it. I'm a riot. Now, if you don't mind, I wanna get to the dining room so that those two," She jerked her head at the wall where they knew their parents' room was. "Can take a hint and hurry up."

Desiree let out an actual laugh this time. "They are always going on about getting up faster yet they are the last ones down half the time."

* * *

At the large circular dining table, the majority of the children were seated, all with various levels of patience. Sesha leaned back into her chair, tipping it slightly on its back legs, as she outstretched her arm to also tip her empty glass with her pointer finger. To her right sat Willow, the pony-tailed girl grumbling and casting impatient glances at the huge plate of waffles at the center of the table, and Desiree, smiling softly at the other occupants at the table. Beyond them was Ulrich and Conrad both of them sitting like statues, Ulrich only breaking his stoic demeanor to swat Willow's hand with a black clouded fork that was beside her plate whenever she reached to the center of the table.

Said girl was currently growling and clenching a fist that was sure to have a bruise on the back.

"You surprise us with a huge pile of fresh waffles and expect me to just sit here with my thumbs up my ass?!" She hissed in a sharp whisper.

Ulrich rolled his eyes at her. "Yes. We are going to wait for everyone."

"But mom and dad always take forever." She shot back.

"Don't get hangry at me." Ulrich calmly retorted.

Willow just huffed in response crossing her arms in impatience. She took another look at the plate of waffles and with an unimpressed flick of her wrist, caused the entire plate of waffles to disappear in a swirl of clover. The entire table froze and the two boys who had already been still bugged their eyes out.

Willow calmly put her hands up in a placating gesture. "Before you guys freak out, you know my pocket will keep them nice and fresh."

Ulrich opened his mouth to protest but was cut off by Willow.

"I might as well keep them fresh in my pocket while we wait, and it will make a nice show for when mom and dad walk in."

It was Ulrich's turn to grumble as a grin spread on Willow's face. The two bowls of blueberry and strawberry sauce disappeared in a similar swirl of magic.

"Should give them the same courtesy too." She said patting her hands together to rid them of the particles of magic that remained.

Conrad tilted his head at her, the most motion he displayed as of yet at the table. "Just make sure that the same amount of waffles return."

The girl in question only grinned a wicked smile. "Did you count how many were there?"

The two other girls snickered at their sister's cocky attitude while Conrad and Ulrich let their heads fall in defeat.

"When are mom and dad gonna get here?" Conrad said, exasperated.

"If they're this late," Sesha started with a mischievous smile. "They might be gettin' bizay."

Desiree squeaked out an indignant 'ew' and put her hands over her ears.

"You are nasty, Sesh." Conrad said with his head in in palm. "We can sense them walking down the upstairs hall."

Sesha just shrugged it off. "We're all animals here, and we want a big pack, right?"

Desiree lifted her hand from her ears and looked at Sesha with a tired look. "Why can't six be enough?"

"Because that is the sole population of our awesome demon-beast species. Don't tell me your instincts don't want more survivability. _Both_ instincts." Sesha said.

"Normal kids just ask for another sibling or something." Ulrich said. " _You_ make it a point to talk about their sex life."

"Joke about. It's not like I go asking for details." Sesha shot back while waving her green finger at him. "And besides, we are obviously _far_ from normal."

Willow kicked her seat back in a similar fashion as Sesha's and adopted a mocking tone.

"Hey, mom and dad. Done hiding the cucumber?"

Ulrich slammed his head on the table, jostling the cutlery on it. Conrad groaned and put his face deep in his hands. Desiree started to retch over dramatically, and Sesha muttered something about needing to remember that one.

Any further innuendos were cut off by by an irritated clearing of someone's throat.

Knowing who it was before even seeing them, Sesha whipped her head around with a question on her tongue.

"Hey, mom and dad! Done-"

"No." Their mother said dangerously, their father standing at her side with a look of disapproval and chagrin. The shame they sensed rolling off him was easily deciphered into 'they got that from me'.

"To me talking? Or to what I was asking?" Her grin was positively impish, knowing they had heard Willow's parody.

Raven's eyes narrowed, silently daring her to to continue. Sesha's grin faltered and she muttered an apology.

"Anyways _._ " Ulrich started forcibly. "What took you so long?"

Garfield took the subject change gratefully and lightheartedly nudged his wife. "She was trying to meditate the morning away. So I had no choice but to nearly carry her down the hall."

"I'm going to have no time to do it until later." Raven started. "so I-"

She was cut off by her husband grabbing her around the waist and spinning her in a circle.

"Yeah, yeah. But now that we're here it's time for-" He cut himself off as he finally looked at the table, now barren of the food he expected to see. "Breakfast?"

He arched his head over Raven's shoulder curiously, a brief look of confusion on his face. He looked at each of his children in turn swiftly. When he made eye contact with Willow, who was sucking her lips in, he chuckled.

"No breakfast yet? Are we still waiting for Ethan?" Raven said.

Sesha sat up at the mention of the youngest. As the front legs of her chair finally clacked against the tile of the floor, a voice spoke up softly from beside her.

"I've been here for a while."

She swung her head in the direction of the voice and saw Ethan lounging in the chair beside her, a glazed look in his eyes.

With a yelp, she clutched her chest. "You need to stop doing that, or we're gonna put a bell on you!"

The glazed look left his eyes and a small smile came to his lips. "But it's too much fun."

At this point the rest of his siblings took notice and started to look about the room, looking at Ethan and to the kitchen that they should have seen him walk from. It was so comical looking that Ethan laughed at them all.

"Aren't we supposed to be having breakfast or something?" He said with a chuckle still in his voice.

Willow immediately perked up in her seat, obviously waiting for some cue. "That we are, little bro!"

She thrust her hands forward and splayed her fingers out and up. In a black flash and a triumphant "tah-dah" she materialized the entire breakfast selection to its rightful place on the table.

Garfield smiled at the reappearance of the food and nearly shouted one word in jubilation.

"Waffles!"

Raven smiled at the obvious flourish of ability, letting a burst of pride and approval through her empathic walls for Willow to feel. Willow smiled widely in return.

Garfield ran around the table to the two remaining empty chairs, all while still carrying Raven, and sat her into an empty seat. As he sat down beside her, Raven smiled at the entire sight in front of her.

"Thank you." She said softly to the teens.

"It was nothin'." Sesha said.

"You only made the sauce." Ulrich said.

"Are you saying I did less than Conrad?" Sesha said with a raised brow.

Conrad furrowed his brows as Ulrich simply answered. "Touché."

Raven rolled her eyes at her children's banter and daintily picked up a fork. Willow and Deserie copied her action, though Willow was far more enthused and the fork almost hummed in the girl's hand in anticipation.

"Let's eat." Raven said simply, and the table burst into action as everyone started to attack the mountain of waffles in varying amounts of vigor.


	2. Pier Pack

Huge update compared to the first chapter, but that's more to the fact that I have a bit more pre-written. If I can get through a block I can prolly get another chapter out next week instead of two. That remains to be seen. My drive to break the block is tied to how many people read it, I guess. It sucks because the block is in a portion _before_ all the stuff I've pre-written. So a good chunk is done, but I just need to bridge it.

Thanks to the guest who reviewed, and a special thanks to Foamsatmouth for reviewing and giving me the final push to start writing this in the first place! I don't want to sound like I'm begging for reviews but I would like some more this time around.

* * *

"Come on!" Sesha shouted from the entry hall. "We have so much to do at the pier!"

Most of the family had already gathered by the door, the only missing member being Willow. In front of the mirror situated by the door were three of them busying themselves with making sure their hologram physiques were passable. Raven quickly brushed her fingers through her black hair beside Ethan, who checked that his pointed ears were rounded.

Desiree, even if she had little need for the mirror, fiddled with her muddy blond pigtails. She was entertaining herself by making a show of bending one pigtail to the point of breaking the hologram to show the violet hair underneath, then doing the same with the other, revealing green hair.

The rest of them had already checked their peach skin and varying tones of blond hair, knowing a simple glance at their forearms confirmed the trinkets that adorned various parts of their bodies projected the false appearances.

"Gimme a sec! Gotta find my necklace!" Willow shouted from up the stairs.

A thumping of footsteps produced a still green skinned girl, grunting in frusteration.

Without turning from the mirror Raven said, "Did you check your pocket?"

Willow blinked a few times and a floating black hole appeared by her arm and she jammed her hand into it. Her skin and hair rippled and shifted into a hue that matched the rest of the family as she pulled her hand out, now holding a simple chain with a small assortment of gems that matched the brooches on the belt of her mother's hero attire. She laughed sheepishly as the rest of the family turned to each other without missing a beat.

"Drive, fly or teleport?" Garfield said, addressing the whole family.

"Fly!" Willow said, thrusting her hand up and dragging her twin's up alongside it. Their father raised his hand along side them as well as Ethan.

"Drive." Raven said, lifting her hand just above her elbow. Conrad did the same.

Sesha snorted. "I know we sometimes want to have the appearance of a 'normal' family," She said, air quoting disdainfully at a certain word. "But those things you had uncle Cy build you are glorified cages on wheels. Teleport."

As she raised her hand Ulrich spoke. "I expected you to vote fly."

"Yeah, sure, flying is fun, and we had a giggle getting ready and eating, but even if I go with dad, mom will take the scenic route. I wanna get the ball rolling!" Sesha thrust her hand further into the air on her last word, pointedly looking around at her siblings.

The twins glanced at each other shrugged and raised their still joined hands.

"She's gotta point." Desiree said.

"We change our vote to tele!" Willow added.

"I was hoping for a relaxing drive." Conrad said, adding his hand to the air, "But a portal is faster."

Ulrich raised his hand as well. "Might as well tip the scales." He said with a sidelong smirk.

Raven glanced around. "Teleport it is. Everyone ready?"

When everyone nodded in response she flared her hands out at the floor beneath them.

Black swirled at their feet and, with the familiar cry of a raven, it swallowed the family into an abyss. When the darkness cleared around them, sand was under their feet and the scent of saltwater hit their noses. Surrounding them was the support beams of the wooden floored pier above them, the shade covering their entrance.

As the last tendrils of energy disappeared Raven put a hand to her head. When the rest of her family looked at her with concern she raised a placating hand, able to feel their gaze even with her eyes closed.

"I'm fine. A large teleport is not as straining when it's all of you." She said.

Desiree clasped her hands. "Aww! Is it the power of love?"

"No." Her mother deadpanned, making Desiree's smile fall. "It's more that you being my children make you tied to my soul, thus easier to interact with with my magic."

"Right." Desiree said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Forgot about that."

Raven gave her a smile, "But you can still interpret it as my love."

Her children smiled at her and she could feel them restraining themselves in hugging her, which was as good as actually doing so as far as her empathy was concerned.

The moment passed and Raven spoke again.

"What first?" She asked the group.

Willow shot her hand in the air.

Sesha cut her off, clenching a fist. "If you say food, Imma clock ya."

Willow's hand wavered slightly. "I was gonna say pier snacks. Like churros or funnel cake."

Sesha narrowed her eyes at her.

Willows hand withered further right before Sesha tackled her. The family all winced as they hit the sand, where they rolled for a few moments until Sesha had Willow in a headlock and was grinding her knuckles into the top of her head. Willow grunted in exertion, trying to pry her sister off of her.

"I said 'snacks', not 'food'!" She said, voice grunting due to the pressure being applied to her skull.

"Same difference, ya fudge packer!"

Willow stopped struggling for a moment to digest the taunt, "Excuse me?"

Sesha laughed and kept her stranglehold while she leaned towards her sisters ear to say, "You do like to stuff sweets into that dark void of yours. Figured that it would be an apt nickname for how you keep shit in your hole."

Raven slowly groaned and put a hand to her face as Willow growled loudly and resumed her struggles.

Garfield walked forward, knelt over his tussling daughters and in a sportscaster voice addressed the scene, invisible microphone to his mouth and all.

"It looks like the end for Willow Logan!" His shoutcasting was accentuated by Desiree whooping and pumping her fist. "What can she do against this deadly noogie!?"

Suddenly, with the dexterity and malleability that would make a octopus jealous, Willow was out of Sesha's grip and had her pinned on her stomach, sitting on the small of her back. Willow laughed as she put an arm around Sesha's neck and pulled her head up, bending her spine backwards.

"Gonna snap like a twig." Ulrich muttered at the spectacle.

Desiree knelt into the sand beside them and started to chant for her twin. "Kick her ass! Kick her ass!"

"Say uncle!" Willow demanded.

"Never!" Sesha shouted as though she didn't have an obstruction to her airway.

Like a mousetrap springing, Sesha's body bucked upwards, launching her sister into the air. Willow floundered for a moment in mid air before descending back towards Sesha with her arms and legs braced like a cat coming down for a landing. Her green claws extended out of the projected hologram on her skin and revealing her green fingertips.

Willow had barely started to have gravity accelerate her when she was encased in a black aura. They both blinked and looked at their mother.

"Didn't you say you wanted to get the ball rolling?" Raven asked.

"I'm surprised you let them go that long." Conrad said.

"Might as well let them have their fun while under the pier and away from civilians. Then people wont ask how Willow appears to have no bones." Raven said before dropping Willow unceremoniously on top of Sesha, catching both off guard and making the pair unwillingly have one last brief tussle in the sand.

"That's cause I didn't have bones for a second there." Willow said as her face was still in the sand.

Immediately they were on their feet, dusting the sand off of themselves. Sesha was already talking nonchalantly as though nothing out of the ordinary occurred.

"Now that _that_ happened, I want to hit the arcade for some more not so real fighting." She said as she shook the sand out of her flip flops.

She looked around at her siblings, silently asking them to agree. Slowly they all nodded. Only Willow hesitated.

After a few seconds she shrugged and said, "Ehh. They have snacks there."

Sesha gave her angry look, with an eye twitching and all. When Willow smiled innocently in return Sesha cocked a fist back and made her flinch.

Raven rolled her eyes with a smile and started walking to the staircase leading to the pier above them.

"Arcade it is." She deadpanned.

The rest of the family left the shade of the pier, leaving a musing Willow. As they started up the stairs she drove her hand into a black nimbus and pulled out a waffle. She tossed it in her hand a few times to cool the still warm breakfast pastry then happily took a large bite.

"Tubay's gun' be fuh." She said with a full mouth.

* * *

Sesha slammed the arcade stick into hysteric motions as she mashed the buttons incoherently.

"Fight back, you damn turtler!" She shouted to the other side of the cabinet, where Conrad rested his fingertips on the buttons and simply held the stick in one direction.

On the screen, Sesha's character let loose a flurry of kicks at an impassive gi wearing warrior. When the attacking character finished her assault with a string of purple clouded kicks, Conrad's character retaliated. With the grace of a well practiced pianist, he pressed the buttons and moved the stick, assaulting his sister's virtual avatar. The announcer's voice saying who had won was drowned out by Sesha's angry cry of defeat.

She scraped her chair as she stood and walked to the opposite side of the cabinet where Conrad was exchanging a fist bump with Ethan. She slammed a ten dollar bill down and leaned into Conrad's face, who only smirked in return.

"Again." She said through clenched teeth.

She was about to sit back down when one of her arms was grabbed and shook sporadically. She looked over to see Willow shaking her hand over a basket of fries.

"Thanks for the salt, sis!" Willow said as she shoved some fries into her mouth.

As she heard her family laugh around her, she facepalmed to try and hide her own smile.

* * *

Raven sighed as she lowered herself into the coaster seat.

"This is redundant if we can fly under our own power." She deadpanned, pulling the restraint down over her head.

"I can't." Ethan said simply from a seat in front of her, a hint of trepidation in his voice.

"But you will soon. You are making strides in your training." Raven said as her husband took the seat beside her.

"So it's a simulator, gettin' ya ready for the real thing!" Willow said from the front.

"Not quite the same as flying with magic, but I guess you can say that." Ulrich said climbing in as well.

Sesha bounced in her seat beside Ethan. "Redundancy aside, there is a bit of thrill in riding in a metal death trap with your own control taken away."

Ethan raised a brow at her as the ride lurched forward. "I seem to recall you opting _out_ of a car ride for similar reasons."

"Like I said, thrill. Danger. Uncle Cy built the family cars to be tanks so nothing will happen to us in them. These cars riding these salt air rusted rails? Not so much."

Ethan just gave a noncommittal murmur and squirmed in his seat. He clenched the restraint handles as the clacking of the chainlift started.

"It's okay, little bro, your big sis is here to save you if this bucket of bolts comes apart."

"Sesha, stop putting ideas in his head." Raven chastised.

"Come on, mom. What's a bit of harmless ribbing?" Sesha said while jabbing Ethan with her elbow as much as the over the shoulder restraints allowed.

Suddenly she stilled and with her forearm breaking the hologram covering it by gaining the texture of an octopus, she stretched out her arm to pick up something off the floor of the coaster car.

She held it in front of Ethan before asking, "You think this was important?"

His eye's widened as he looked at the unsettling sight of a thick rusted bolt, the teeth stripped with age. Before he could say anything the clacking grew in volume and the cars dipped. Willow and Desiree both screamed from the front as the sound of wind and metal grew deafening.

"We're all gonna die!"

* * *

They all sat under two umbrellas, shading two tables joined for their larger than average family. In front of them was various lunch foods, the only out of place item amongst the vegetarian basket food being a steaming cup of tea poured from a thermos.

Over the wooden railing the sounds of beachgoers were beginning to pick up as the sun was waning towards noon.

Ethan was the only one not eating. He stared angrily at the bolt that rested by Sesha's hand, the girl having toyed with it in her hands almost nonstop since they got off the ride.

"Careful, Ethan. Glare at it any harder and you might start melting that thing." Raven told her youngest, calmly sipping on a steaming cup of tea.

Willow snorted into her iced tea. "With you being the most magically inclined out of all of us, that's not a hyperbole." She said after swallowing her mouthful of tea.

Sesha picked up the bolt with a chuckle. "I'm sorry, little bro. I couldn't resist when Willow asked me."

Ethan glared at the twin.

"Why'd you sell me out?" Willow whined.

Ulrich chuckled, "We know you wouldn't let Sesh take all the credit. I felt when you portaled the bolt at their feet."

"You should have made it fall on his lap right before the loop." Conrad said.

"That would have been a bit much." Raven said.

"And hilarious." Garfield added.

Raven glared at him. He was unfazed and was about to say something when there was a cry of panic from the sand below. The family craned over the side of the railing to see a red metal hulking figure harassing some of the bodybuilders that always frequented the outdoor gym.

Willow gasped in an overzealous fashion and spun her head to look at her mother, grabbing Ethan in the same motion. He in turn had a growing, yet nervous, smile on his face.

"You promised!" Sesha said as she put her hands on Ethan's shoulders.

Raven sighed. "I know I did, and I was hoping nothing would come up today more than any day."

Sesha gestured in an uncaring manner towards the figure in the sand, it's boasting faint over the crying seagulls. "It's only the hardware dudebro. Three of us can handle him easily with no injuries, and we've helped you with tougher dudes before! And it'll be so satisfying to have _him_ be our first takedown as a full team."

"Okay, okay." Garfield said, raising her hands in a placating gesture. He looked to his wife, who gave a small nod as an affirmative. "We may not help but we will be watching. If the need calls we will come in."

Ulrich nodded. "Don't worry, mom and dad. Ethan's skillset has him out of the line of fire. He'll be fine."

Raven nodded in return, putting her own hand on top of Sesha's where it still rested on Ethan's shoulder. "All of you keep each other safe, understood?"

All the teens stood at attention and gave her a mock salute.

"Yes ma'am!" They shouted in unison before jumping the railing.

Garfield shook his head. "The more they do that the less I think they're joking."

* * *

"You twigs don't got anything on Adonis!" The man in the red metal exosuit said.

The group of men in front of him backed away slowly. They had indeed seen no challenge in the man before, but that was only until his car transformed into a powersuit and covered his stringy figure. The crowd of men could only stare as the now towering man showboated by bending the steel weight bars and and throwing around weight plates, embedding them into various craters and crevices in the surrounding concrete and sand.

"Hey, Adonis!" Sesha yelled as she ran through the small gathering on pedestrians that had the spine to not turn tale or lack of common sense to actually do so. She clicked two wristlets together and revealed her green skin. "I would say pick on someone your own size but without that suit, you're the smallest one here!"

Adonis spun around to face her, taking in the small group of green skinned teens in front of him.

"No one makes fun of Adonis!"

Willow burst out laughing. "Oh Azar! It's true! He talks in third person!"

"You." Adonis started staring down at the three eldest in the front of the group. Then he glanced at the two girls beside them. "I've heard of you two. You're the other two daughters of that green shrimp. It's still a mystery why that beauty chose a weakling like him instead of a man like Adonis."

Sesha narrowed her eyes. "He says about the _man_ who put him in jail last."

Adonis laughed. "It doesn't matter. I don't see him anywhere. So there is no worthy challenge from any of you."

Adonis finished his boasting by flinging a few weight plates at the group of teens.

Willow groaned in disappointment as she caught the plate heading in her direction in a small void. It reappeared a moment later, its momentum redirected immediately downward harmlessly into the sand.

Sesha caught the other plate barehanded with a muscled arm that was sprouting bear-like hair, her claws scraping the metal.

Willow kicked some sand in tandem with Sesha dropping her plate. "Aw. His illeism isn't consistent? I'm actually a little sad at that."

Sesha gave her sister a confused look. "Who cares about his ill-whatever. Let's kick his ass!"

She dropped her stance into a crouch, a slight bounce of anticipation permeated her legs as they snapped and popped into forms that resembled those of a raptor. A tail made itself visible behind her sprouting the spikes of a stegosaurus while growing long and broad. In one last small display of resolution she kicked her sandals off her feet.

She turned her head, which was taking on the proportions of a lioness, to Ulrich.

"Harass." Ulrich said quickly. "Keep his attention but don't overextend."

Sesha nodded in affirmation, baring her fangs in a hungry growl, and charged.

Before she took the first stride Ulrich turned to Willow. "Keep her off tilt. We know her temper and judging by Adonis' history with mom and dad she's already close to snapping."

Willow shrugged her arms that now oddly swayed at her sides. She lifted her clawed hands with arms that bent with no joints and her fingertips burst alive with dark green fire.

"When is she not? Plus, were at the beach. She should be salty by default." She cackled as a black void opened in front of her that she jumped into.

Ulrich paused when two more siblings walked up beside him.

"Contain?" Conrad suggested.

Desiree smirked. "Like you would exert yourself for more."

Ulrich nodded, his lips almost twitched into a smile when Conrad shot their sister a look as they both flew off in opposite directions to circle the fight. Ulrich's next command turned inward.

" _Ethan? Got us linked up?"_

" _Yep."_

" _Good. Keep his eyes on the prize."_

The youngest nodded and stepped backwards into the gathering of civilians.

" _Careful, everyone."_ Ethan's voice called out into his siblings' heads.

A chorus of affirmatives responded, Ulrich's own included, as he lumbered forward. His stance shifted as his muscles and joints changed, and in only a few steps his appearance shifted to resemble a werewolf but with various animals also within his anatomy like patches of scales and bat like ears. The swaths of fur over his limbs looked iridescent with hues of green and violet.

" _I'll ready the final blow."_ Ulrich growled as he lifted his hand, the fur coating the appendage glistening with dark magic with the intent of release on their armoured foe. He started to mutter under his breath as his eldest sister started to pounce on Adonis.

Near the outskirts of the watching crowd, Garfield and Raven stood.

The father had a jovial bounce in his shoulders.

"Isn't this great?" He said as he gestured to their children. "The Litter is growing up and now it's the debut of The Pack."

Raven groaned. "I resent that name for them. I didn't give birth to puppies."

"Which name?" Garfield asked with a small smirk.

Raven groaned again.

Sesha quickly got in and out of arm's reach of Adonis and repeatedly scraped her near needle like claws at his metal shell. Adonis barely flinched at any of the scratches.

"Thanks for the massage, kitty. You're about as threatening as your runt of a daddy." He taunted and brought a fist up for an uppercut that knocked Sesha flying.

While tumbling, she willed her spine into that of a feline's and twisted in midair, landing gracefully on all fours. She snarled and charged again. She augmented her speed with levitation and spun forward in the air, scraping her spined tail down over Adonis' chest. She kicked her taloned feet into the newly made indentations, instantly making a foothold. Adonis grunted at the force of her attack and stumbled a few steps and looked at the girl attached to his breastplate.

Sesha raked her claws at Adonis' shoulders and chest, causing sizable divots in the metal. She was about to start an assault on his exposed face when her sister made her pause.

" _Cool your head, sis."_ Willow thought. " _Seriously, it's only Adonis yet you're already starting to see red."_

As Sesha's scowl melted slightly, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around Adonis' face. Sesha looked up to see Willow thread her boneless arms around and around Adonis' head and score claw holes into his helmet with emerald flamed fingers.

Sesha recoiled a bit at the sight. " _Even if I can do it too, it's weird how you do it with still human looking limbs."_

Willow chuckled, ignoring the muffled cries from in between them. " _You're just jelly of my efficiency."_

" _Not when it makes us wanna hurl."_ Desiree commented.

Adonis blindly flailed his arms hoping to dislodge his two aggressors. Sesha kicked off sending Adonis a few steps towards the water while Willow only dodged, her malleable limbs allowing her room to move.

" _Check and see if that thing is water tight after that mauling."_ Ulrich suggested.

"Make a hole!" Willow called out at the few onlookers between her and the water. They scattered away giving Willow a clean pathway to the surf.

Willow called out mentally. " _Set me up, Sesh!"_

Smirking, Sesha dashed forward and with a massive clenched fist she threw her whole body into a haymaker uppercut. The rings of armour lining Adonis' abdomen buckled slightly and he tumbled backwards.

Before he had a chance to go far, Sesha had a grasp on one of the armor's ankles as it kicked, trying to regain balance. With a mighty tug she had Adonis swinging around her like an olympic hammer thrower. Adonis started to scream, but it was hard to tell through both Willow's arms and her laughter. After reaching a sickening velocity Sesha gave a roar that accompanied an inward shout.

" _Ulrich!"_

Said brother took the extended hand that was doused in a rich purple aura and pinched his fingers.

Sesha felt the tug and flung Adonis high over the water. His speed compounded when Ulrich jerked his hand skyward a moment later.

Her momentum made her spin on the spot and, in her dizzied state, plopped into the sand on her back.

"So long, Adonis." She muttered through her vertigo.

Willow laughed gleefully as she sailed into the air atop the screaming villain. She slid off and underneath the flying Adonis, her claws still latched. With the help of a breath of magic she spun Adonis under her, then over, and under again.

"Alley oop!" Willow bellowed with a face splitting grin.

An emerald void opened beneath her and she slammed Adonis into it like she was dunking a basketball.

For a moment she floated there, completely still with her arms still extended in the final gesture of having thrown her foe. Her eyes were closed in deep concentration.

Then she suddenly swung her extended arms inward over her chest and her eyes opened.

"Terminal velocity!" She yelled.

She swiped her arms out and snapped her fingers. The sound that accompanied carried over the whole beach, reverberating into a sound that was more akin to an enormous tree breaking in two than a simple snapping of fingers.

Much like the weight plate he threw earlier, Adonis reappeared at Willow's side, careening at a blistering speed. With a great splash he hit the water sending a massive wave outward. Conrad and Desiree deftly raised a shield over the shoreline, keeping any bystanders from being swept away. The water slammed into the emerald wall and the pair let it dissipate after it reseeded.

Willow fluttered like a leaf to the ground on her back. Landing in the sand beside Sesha into a pose of two girls sunbathing. She meet her sister's raised fist with her own.

" _Nice."_ Sesha bobbed her head in a cocky manner.

Willow chuckled and pumped a fist. " _Nice."_

" _Do you think all six of us is a bit overkill?"_ Desiree inquired. " _Conrad and I are just standing here."_

Sesha scoffed. " _Overkill would have been inviting mom and dad."_

Ethan laughed softly through the link. " _I already feel bad for him now. That would be humiliating. Anyways, he's coming back."_

Adonis burst onto the sand, gasping for breath. He frantically darted his eyes around the group of teens waiting on the shore. Every time his eyes wandered to the bystanders standing aways from the fight they would snap back, like it was against his will. He pressed his gauntlets to the side of his head.

"You're messing with my mind!"

" _Naw, just redirecting it."_ Ethan said, even though Adonis couldn't hear his reply.

Adonis snapped his head to look at Sesha and Willow, his pupils dilated to different sizes. He ran up the sand and immediately started an assault on the two girls who had double teamed him. They only dodged and weaved away from his metal flurry of swings.

" _We got him angry."_ Willow stated with a giggle, ducking under a backhand strike.

Ulrich kept his outstretched hand poised towards Adonis, keeping it pointed at him as much as possible.

" _Keep him angry."_ Ulrich commanded. " _I'm almost ready."_

There was a pause and Sesha smiled as she was almost got brushed by one of Adonis' punches. The twins gave an identical bark of laughter through the mental link.

" _Oh no."_ Conrad groaned.

" _That rhymed!"_ The girls shouted. They could almost feel Ethan smiling and shaking his head through the link.

" _Focus!"_ Ulrich shouted in their heads.

Adonis continued swinging fruitlessly, livid due to the grins that the girls were sporting.

"Stand still so Adonis can hit you!"

Sesha laughed out loud as she retaliated against Adonis' attacks. She batted aside any strike he threw while clawing out her own. When her claws started to scrape through the armour and expose the mechanics underneath, Willow planted her foot on her shoulder and lept onto Adonis' face while hissing like a cat.

She became a blur of mint green as she mercilessly clawed at the armour on his shoulders, scraping away what little red paint was left. Adonis' face was spared only due to a faceplate sliding from the sides to protect it.

" _Looks like we can't use 'Achilles' as banter material."_ Willow's tone was thick with sarcasm.

Willow hopped off, her arms tired. When the faceplates peeled away, it revealed Adonis' furious scowl.

"Adonis has had enough!" He roared. "All you are are just a bunch of freakish mutts!"

Sesha's grin vanished and she narrowed her eyes to slits as her sisters recoiled at the remark.

" _That's it. I'm done playing."_ Sesha sighed. " _You better be ready to put this idiot down, Ulrich. Cause I might do it myself."_

Ulrich blew a meditative breath out of his nose. " _Just give me an opening."_

Sesha's bones and joints creaked again. The animals that composed her body became flush and fused until one could no longer tell where one stopped and the other began. She grew in size as her muscles bulked and seized in anticipation. The surface of her skin glowed a haunting black as ebony electricity sparked from underneath her mix of green fur, feathers and scales.

Adonis roared as he, once again, blindly charged at Sesha. She made no move to dodge this time and only stared down the fist that was sailing towards her head, Adonis' shrill shout accompanying its whistle through the air.

"You are only animals! Adonis is a MAN!"

The fist halted alongside the sound of crumpling metal and crackling sparks.

When Adonis heard the sound continue he looked over his mechanical arm to the girl that stood unmoved from his attack. Sesha had her hand clamped over a single finger of Adonis' gauntlet, the digit threatening to bend backwards in her grasp.

She locked eyes with him. "I don't think that claim fits a scrap heap like you."

Sesha pulled the arm forward and, in the same motion, brought a powerful kick straight up into Adonis' chin, both of her legs forming a line perpendicular to the ground. Once more Adonis flew, but due to Sesha's grip on him he swiftly arched over her head and slammed into the sand.

" _Now?"_ She thought impatiently.

" _Now."_

Ulrich shouted confidently as he slammed his palms into the sand, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

A black aura exploded from his hands, swimming among the fine particles of earth. They swirled at his feet and the ebony tendrils shot forward colliding violently with Adonis. They wrapped around his mechanized limbs and lifted him off the ground.

Adonis grunted as he struggled against the bonds but they held him firm. Ulrich got up from his crouch and walked towards his captive. He held his hand up and flexed his fingers as he spoke words that resonated with power.

"By my mother's magic, come undone!"

Adonis' armour burst apart. Every piece, from the large protective outer plates to small servos and wires, started to rain down into the sand.

Raven, who had been impassively watching the fight for the most part, cracked a smirk at the casting.

When the spell was done stripping Adonis, it dropped the small man, now clad only in a skin tight leotard that still managed to hang pitifully on some areas on his anatomy. Adonis pushed himself to his feet, tripping and fumbling over the various strewn parts of his exosuit. He whirled around as if eyeing every bit of metal would reassemble them on his body. When the action obviously was proved impossible he started to shout at the teens who surrounded him.

"You will not humiliate Adonis any longer!"

He dove for a still sizable piece of his suit and pressed a button on a still intact portion of machinery. The teens gasped when a shrill beeping started. Adonis laughed as he threw the contraption at Sesha and took off running in the opposite direction.

Sesha caught it with wide eyes. Holding it at arm's length, she spun around with a silent plea for help. Her eyes landed on Ulrich and she begged through their link.

" _Bro!"_ She mentally shouted, " _What do I-"_

Interrupting her call of distress Conrad was at her side with a blur of movement, Desiree flying up only a moment after. They put their palms out and the beeping device floated from Sesha's grasp and was encased in an emerald prison. Conrad flexed his fingers and an extra glob of magical energy protruded from his arms and took the form of an armadillo. It flew forward and grabbed the sphere containing the device and curled around it, becoming another barrier between them and the beeping contraption. The sound emanating from the device was dampened but they could hear the beeps were getting faster.

The two siblings glanced at one another. Within the span of a moment they understood that their shields might not be enough, judging by the amount of plastic explosives attached. Then they looked back down there was yet another shield overlaid the device. Immediately, their determination redoubled.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" They shouted together. From within the sphere a loud bang rang out. Only Sesha had time to brace herself as it shattered, blasting the three surrounding teens backwards.

Sesha let her center of gravity topple over her hips, reaching back as she flipped backwards and dug her claws into the sand. Her feet swung over her head in an arc and planted themselves, dragging three divots into the sand and stopping her momentum.

Outside the fight, Garfield looked at his wife. She still had her arm raised, although the magic she had clutched in her hand had since been used to protect their children. She didn't need to turn and look at him to know her husband was furious at the unforeseen act of desperation.

Sesha reared her head to see Desiree and Conrad in the protective arms of Willow and Ulrich respectively, having caught their fellow twin or triplet.

"And I thought that was gonna be anticlimactic." Sesha said as she flicked sand from her claws.

Her joking tone was covering up the feeling of her stomach dropping somewhere around her ankles at the fact that she could have been holding that bomb when it went off a few seconds prior.

"Adonis?" Ulrich said simply, his tone asking where the man was more than addressing him.

They looked around only to find him only a few yards from where he had started running, crumpled to the ground with Ethan having just walked over to stand over him. Adonis had his hands clutching his head and he was moaning feebly.

"It was you." Adonis groaned out. "You were messing with my head. I never even saw you."

Ethan knelt down, tapping a finger to his forehead. "Exactly. You didn't notice me, so I simply kept it that way. All the way up until I was right in front of you, making you forget how to use your muscles. With how often you neglect them by overusing that scrap heap over there that was even easier than diverting your eyes."

Before Adonis could formulate any response a mass of shadows loomed over him. He looked up to see the rest of Ethan's family.

"Hello, Adonis." Garfield growled.

The man in the sand paled. He lifted his head and felt a presence that made his hair stand on end. It was one he recognized. One he only felt a handful of times before, many years ago.

Even if Garfield was still in human form, Adonis could see behind his eyes the Beast.

And even after taking all of that in, there was something else that scared him even more. The animal that stood before him wasn't just green, it was bathed in Red.

Just as Adonis started to get his bearings again Garfield deftly slapped a band of metal segments that automatically snapped around his wrists and locked into a configuration resembling handcuffs.

"That is so cool." Willow gushed at the display of technology.

"You should have you own." Sesha said. "They're standard issue for detainment."

"Doesn't make em less cool." Willow said.

Raven walked up to the group, a finger to her ear. "Adonis has been incapacitated. Requesting police apprehension."

Someone on the other end that the teens couldn't hear responded, and she replied with a few sounds in affirmation.

When she dropped her hand she spoke to her family. "A squad should be here shortly. Good job."

Sesha scoffed, waving the complement off. "It was only Adonis. It's not like we actually showed any real skill there."

Behind them, Adonis stuttered at the casual insult thrown at him.

"We had it on lock almost the whole time." Willow said, lacing her fingers behind her head.

"Except for the finale, but that was dealt with thanks to some quick thinking." Garfield said as he came between Conrad and Desiree and ruffled their hair, or at least caused Desiree's long pigtails to shake from the small endearing head rub.

"Don't mention it." Desiree said, putting her own hand atop her father's with a light smile. She leaned forward to look at Conrad from around their father. "It was kinda worth it to see Conrad move the fastest we've seen in a few months."

The boy in question barely broke the stoic mask that he inherited from his mother to smile. He turned to said mother and said, "We saw you help anyways. Can't take all the credit."

Ulrich stood silently throughout the conversation listening to sounds of sirens that had grown louder as it went on.

Ulrich looked over at the approaching police vehicles and then to the pier where their forgotten lunch was. Turning to the crater in the sand formed from Adonis' last resort attack he had to suppress a grimace.

Taking a breath to compose himself, he turned to try to gear his siblings back to enjoying their day at the pier, only to notice that Willow had engrossed the bystanders that had come trickling back with an exuberant retelling of what had happened only a few minutes prior.

"-swung and she just kept dodging cause she's awesome and I came in and scratched at his face like a savage kitty cat and then I-"

Ethan put and hand on her shoulder and she quieted. "Willow? Breathe."

Willow sucked in a breath of air and exhaled, slumping her shoulders. "Sorry. Still up on the adrenaline. Need some food after all that."

Ulrich saw his opening and took it.

"Come on guys. Let's get back to lunch. I'm sure the citizens have other things to do then listen to us ramble."

While Willow shouted a indignant 'Hey' at him, Raven quirked a curious eyebrow, but held her question to talk to the arriving officers.

As the officers started to disperse the crowd and took the disheveled Adonis to a squad car, Ulrich turned from the scene.

As her husband exchanged a few words with the police Raven looked to Ulrich, but he was already walking with with a stiff and rushed gait towards the concrete staircase that mirrored the one they had ascended that morning on the other side of the pier. A green hand caught his shoulder just as he made it to the steps and softly turned him to face the owner.

"Are you okay, Ulrich?" Desiree asked once he pulled his eyes up to her's.

"I just want to get back to our plans. We wanted to do the carnival games next, right?"

Desiree only narrowed her eyes at him, her skin shifting to their mother's complexion. Her eyes even glistened with a threatening red to complete the resemblance to their mother's darker aspect. "Don't change the subject. What happened to make you close up?"

Sesha came up beside her with a similar, yet more sympathetic look in her eyes than her sister. "Yeah. What's eating you?"

Ulrich clenched his fists and set his jaw. "Let's not ruin this day with my angst. We'll talk later."

Sesha continued to speak. "Come on, Ulrich. We won't let this go if you act like this."

Ulrich didn't meet their eyes and when he moved to walk again, a new hand stopped him. He turned to see Ethan with a fistful of his shirt in his clenched hand and a concerned look on his otherwise passive face.

When Ulrich no longer attempted to walk away, Ethan released his shirt and slowly brought the hand up to his head and tapped his temple. "You know there is no later for emotions in this family. Now out with it."

Ulrich sighed. It was never a good idea to hide strong emotions amongst them all, as much as they sometimes wanted to to have some semblance of privacy. With all of them being empaths on some level, suppressing an emotion was like setting up TNT in their minds and wiring it to each of them, waiting for it to go off.

Even their father, who only relied on his keen sense of smell to be a pseudo-empath through secreted pheromones, was greatly put off by the silent chaos that ensued in these scenarios. This sometimes resulted in nights that ended with all of them crowding onto their parents' bed, unable to leave each other's presence until they were content again. The first time it had happened when they were all young and still afraid of the thunder roaring at their windows, Garfield had called them all otters, unwilling to let each other go even in their sleep.

He had laughed when some of them had actually shifted into otters during the night.

"So?" Ethan calmly prodded.

"Something during the battle knocked my emotions a bit. I just need some meditation." Ulrich answered.

"Not good enough." Desiree asserted with her hands on her hips. "Either you tell us or that pit in your stomach will start being contagious."

"We don't want you to carry whatever this is alone." Raven interjected.

"Even though Des just said we'll all carry it eventually, share or not." Willow said.

Raven rolled her eyes slightly, getting a soft chuckle from the ponytailed girl. "You know what I mean, Willow. Helping absolve our emotions keeps them from running rampant between us." She said with a slight drawl. After addressing her daughter she turned back to Ulrich. "Let us help you get through it."

Ulrich sighed through his nose again, causing Sesha speak again.

"Come on, bro. Why are you like this?" She asked with exasperation, though her tone was laced with concern. "We took Adonis down with almost _no_ trouble!"

Ulrich locked eyes with Sesha before responding. "Almost. Key word. You should know."

Sesha tensed. "What is that supposed to mean? If you have something to say about how I hesitated with that bomb then say it."

Ulrich clenched, loosened and re-clenched his hands rapidly and with a grimace turned and took a few more steps away from his family and under the shadow of the pier. Its shadow alone seemed to bog his shoulders with whatever was on his mind.

"That's not what I meant Sesh." He said after a second of silence.

The small burst of hope that lit up in her chest at the use of a nickname help quash her small fire of anger at the falsely taken accusation. "Then what do you mean, bro?"

"I mishandled that fight." Ulrich said in a chastising tone, obviously directed at himself. "Underestimated Adonis and almost got you hurt because of it. Or worse. I felt your fear of what could have happened had that thing gone off in your hands."

Sesha stared for a moment. "That was on me. I froze. Even so Con and Dez had my back. Nothing came of it more than a little whiplash."

Ulrich's jaw set again. "I froze up too!"

Sesha suppressed a flinch, anticipating the burst of emotion like a jack-in-the-box.

"You said it yourself, Sesha! You all gave me leadership because I have the most versatile powers so I can keep every one of us in the game. Keep us all on our toes. I told Willow that Adonis' history might cloud your judgement, but I actually let it affect mine! I didn't know he would be stupid enough to have a bomb strapped to the inside of his armor! Even so he should have never had the chance to arm it because I should have dismantled it with my spell! Instead I got cocky and almost got my sister ki-!"

"Don't finish that sentence!" Sesha yelled. Her eyes were ablaze, but it was with something other than anger.

"You take too much responsibility." She said. She reached out, grabbed and brought him into a crushing hug.

"Sesha . . . I'm the leader aren't I? I should have-" He started but was again cut off by his sister.

"What do you see behind me?" She said, bringing her hand to the back of his neck to make sure his eyes were trained where she wanted to make her point. She made him know she was serious about what she was saying by pinching his tendons to steady his head.

He grimaced a bit and looked to where the rest of their family stood. He shook his head and a small laughing scoff came out of his throat, understanding what she was trying to say.

"Careful, sis. You might break our vegan diet with all this cheese." He said bringing his arms up to return the hug.

Sesha chuckled, releasing her pinch on his neck to squeeze her brother tighter.

Willow bounded up to the pair and joined the hug. "Sesh is right. You're not alone out there, Ully."

Her twin came up on the other side and affectionately rubbed Ulrich's head before joining the hug herself. "You have to remember that we're a team."

Ulrich nodded to his surrounding sisters. After a beat of silence he looked up at Conrad and Ethan.

Conrad rolled his eyes slightly, but his smile remained as he walked up to the group himself.

Ethan looked between all of them, them looking at him like it was his turn.

He only shook his head. "We are a very huggy family."

They all laughed and Willow and Desiree each threw an arm out to grab the remaining two siblings into the hug. For a moment they just did that, hug and laugh.

Meanwhile their parents stood off to the side with laughter of their own. Garfield tapped his wife's shoulder. When she gave him her attention, he pointed at their children and then jerked a thumb at the lapping waves. She shook her head, not wanting him to ruin their moment. He only nodded his head in return with a growing smirk.

Raven inaudibly sighed and gestured in a 'go ahead' fashion. She also had a growing smile on her face as Garfield shifted into his apex form, the Beast, and sauntered over to the group of teens. In an impressive show of hand-eye coordination and dexterity he grabbed all of them in one scoop of his arms, making their laughter cease, and sling the group onto his massive hairy shoulder. When they were settled and squared he started to walk out from under the pier and towards the water.

"Dad?!" Desiree cried out.

Ulrich, who looked like he had had his fill of hugs, squirmed. "What are you doing, dad?"

The Beast responded with a growl that could easily be mistaken for a laugh. Sesha was the first to make the connection of where he was taking them.

"Dad! No! Wait till I take my stuff off! My swimsuit is underneath!" She shouted as she kicked.

Willow started laughing again and Desiree started her own struggle. Desiree's form started to flicker into darkness but whatever magic she was conjuring was stopped. She looked up to see their mother sitting on the Beast's opposite shoulder, twirling her black misted fingers.

Willow snorted when Desiree sputtered, "Traitor!"

Raven smirked in reply. "Sorry, your father and I voted to swim."

The teens were all in the air the moment the word 'swim' left her mouth, hitting the ocean water. After a moment of floundering they sat up only for a wave to crash over them.

The girls, excluding a laughing Willow, glared at their mother, who continued to smirk in return. The smile was wiped from her face when a large green paw wrapped around her. Raven turned her head to her conspirator turned betrayer.

"You wouldn't . . . "

* * *

". . . Dare get any sand in the house." Raven chastised as the family walked onto the front porch.

"Mom, you got the most sand out of all of us." Sesha groaned, brushing as much sand off her damp blouse as possible.

"Not for lack of trying." Raven said, casting a glare at her husband.

Garfield smirked. "You know you enjoyed it, hun."

Raven's eyes narrowed, leaning forward towards him.

"Shugah."

A low growl emanated from her throat as she leaned closer in. Garfield's smirk turned cocky.

"Mawmah."

Ethan clutched the sides of his head. "Mom! Make him stop!"

Raven's face didn't retreat from it's proximity to Garfield's, but she still gave Ethan a sidelong glance.

"You know there is only one real way to do that." She said as she leaned to close the distance of their lips.

Garfield closed his eyes as the teens all made various faces of mock disgust.

Suddenly he sneezed and became aware that his wife was no longer in front of him.

He opened his eyes to see only his snickering children and the remaining wisps of a spell that had blocked his senses. His jaw quivered at the tease and he looked into the doorway to see Raven turn a corner in the house and out of sight.

Ethan patted his father on the arm. "Next time, dad."

Garfield grumbled under his breath and walked into the house, following Raven and rolling up what little sleeves his tee shirt had.

Desiree shook her head at his back as he turned the same corner.

"When is he _not_ gonna fall for that." She said as all of them made their way into the house and into the living room, sitting on one of the couches facing the TV.

Sesha snickered, turning on the TV and plopping herself down next to her sister. The rest of the siblings made themselves comfortable on the couches. As Sesha leaned down to pick up an arcade stick off the floor a feminine squeal emanated from somewhere above them.

Ulrich sighed and put let his head fall onto the cushion behind him. "Well, Willow, looks like we won't be getting dinner for a while."

Willow scrunched her face. "Even if I didn't have my stash I wouldn't be worried. They now better with all of us being empaths to try having-"

She was interrupted by multiple shouts.

"Don't say it!" Ulrich waved his hands about.

"Ha! Sex." Sesha hung a tongue out between smiling lips.

"Willow! Sesha! Ewww!" Desiree clamped hands over her ears.

"I'm going to ask if we can order pizza." Conrad put his hands up as he walked out.

"Knock first!" Sesha said as she laughed.

* * *

Garfield gave a polite wave to the delivery boy as he walked back to his car. Walking into the dining room he called out.

"I know you can smell it!"

"Then we should get ready for a stampede?" A voice said behind him.

"I think the stern talking they got from you the last time they scuffed the floors was enough to keep that from happening." He replied while turning around.

Raven walked over and gave him a chaste kiss before patting his cheek affectionately. Garfield grew his own smirk and grabbed her around the waist.

Raven arched her back to put space between them. "Should we really do this when the kids are coming?"

"I don't hear them coming." Garfield said as he attempted to close the distance.

Their lips barely brushed when the both broke away in surprise. Garfields ears strained and twitched.

"You don't hear them at all?" Raven asked.

He swiftly turned back to the pizza boxes and ripped open the top most box. He rolled his eyes when the pizza that was supposed to be there was gone, the only evidence left was oil stains and the glimmers of dark green mist. He lifted the rest of the boxes and let the pizza-less pile of cardboard plop back onto the counter.

"Willow!" He shouted at the ceiling.

A chorus of laughter, male and female, echoed down the stairwell and through the ceiling. The sound caused Garfield to bristle.

"Gar." Raven warned. "It's only food."

He slumped onto the empty boxes and caressed them like a wounded child. "But it was pizza! Expensive _vegan_ pizza!"

Raven gave him a deadpan look.

Garfield let his arms sway at his side in a moping fashion.

"I know. I know." He blew a puff of air out, running a hand through his hair. "It's just that that it's now hitting me that they won't be here tomorrow. Their gonna be off fighting the world and we won't be there all the time like today. They may be able to take on something much tougher than Adonis but I'm still scared. More than just scared even."

Raven nodded, looking at his eyes despite his wayward glances around the room as he spoke.

Suddenly he rose a fist up and slammed it down on the empty boxes, almost crushing the three foot high stack flat and causing Raven to jump at the burst of anger.

Raven came up behind him and put a hand over the fist he had crushed the boxes with.

Garfield slumped from the small outburst. Raven turned his shoulders and took his head in her hands and rested it on her chest, his deflated posture closing their height gap. She whispered into his ear causing whatever hair that was still standing on edge to flatten back into a relaxed position.

"Sorry, Rae." He mumbled.

"I understand, Gar. You're on edge from everything that's about to happen. You want to protect them from everything, but now they're off to adventure outside our influence." Raven gave a slight chuckle as she pulled him into the crook of her neck. "Isn't it the mother that's supposed to get empty nest syndrome anyways?"

Garfield smiled and rose to his full height with a melancholic look in his eyes. "I can turn into a chicken or something, if you want me to fit the nest metaphor better. Although you got one up on me cause you're _always_ a bird."

She glared at him half heartedly, sighed and put her forehead on his chest. "Whatever."

"You're right, though," Garfield said as he hugged her. "It's not like they're moving out. It'll be like a bunch of camping trips. A bunch of long camping trips that we might chaperone from time to time."

"You and I both know we're going to 'chaperone' as much as we can. Being on the JL roster won't stop us from being Titans."

A contemplative sound came from Garfield's throat. "Wonder if Batman or Superman ever had to deal with this."

Raven made a dismissive sound in return. "I think Clark was more worried about Jon keeping his Kryptonian powers in check. His half human physiology gave him an interesting set of powers. As for Bruce, if I can recall some of the debriefings that involved Robin, he was most concerned if Damian pissed anyone off, ally or not."

"Damian was a bit rough around the edges." Garfield said with a bit of a laugh.

As he did one of the pizzas that had been pizzanapped reappeared onto the counter.

The couple looked at it for a second.

Finally Garfield looked up at the ceiling. "Apology accepted, but you could have at least put it onto a plate."

Raven gave a light laugh at the feeling of sheepish guilt that wafted through the ceiling.

* * *

There it is! I had planned on posting the next 3000 words but I think it would be better to stop here. Now I'll have to push through the block. See you guys next time and drop a review and kthnxbye!


	3. The Raft

I should have gotten this out sooner but writers block and life stopped me. Not to mention I felt I had to make some changes regardless of how long ago I pre write this. It gets a bit heavy.

A quick thanks to omari51 and Foamsatmouth for the reviews! Hilarious family fun is what I was aiming for! I hope to get some more so I can give out more thanks on the next chapter.

On to this chapter that doesn't have as much family fun and also a bit shorter. This was the main reason it took me months to even start this story. I revised it a handful of times because it just wouldn't sit right. I hope it does now and that you enjoy!

* * *

The house was quiet again. Though this time the sun was past the horizon instead of approaching. Garfield and Raven were once again in their bed awaiting sleep in each other's arms. Whispering sweet nothing into each others ears would have normally been their last waking memory of the night, but this night something broke the pattern. The house may have been quiet, but none of the occupants could find rest.

Garfield grumbled as he shifted under the covers, his ears twitching, "I can hear them scuffling around."

Raven groaned, her comfortable position in his arms now compromised.

"If there gonna be all restless then they should just come in here, already." Raven said, throwing the covers of and getting up.

"Another otter night, huh?" Garfield said while resting his chin on his fist.

Raven nodded. She levitated over to the door and when she reached for the handle she paused to smile.

While her arm still hovered by the door a knock came from the other side. Raven slowly opened it to reveal her sons.

All three of them had sheepish smiles that sent her back years when her future husband would interrupt her meditation in a plea to play some video game, try and drag her to the beach or some other asinine activity she had to act like she didn't look forward to due to her father's influence.

She silently stood aside to wordlessly bid them entrance. They walked in and saw their father busying himself with fluffing a pile of pillows against the headboard of the bed.

Another knock, this time on the door frame, sounded. Raven turned to see the twins standing in the doorway.

The two girls joined their brothers and for a moment the room felt incomplete. All seven of them turned to the doorway. They could all sense her just on the other side of the wall, seeming to be deep in thought. When the last member seemed to have no intention of turning the corner, Raven stepped out to find her leaning on the wall, her back facing her mother.

Raven put a hand between Sesha and the wall and brought her into her arms. She stroked the top of her head and looked down curiously, letting her emotions ask her question.

"I wanted to ask about something." She said. "Something I want to know before tomorrow."

"And what is that?" Raven inquired.

"You remember all of these otter nights?"

"I always remember these nights." Raven said with a small smile.

Sesha shifted, emotions displaying a hint of uncertainty. "What about what leads up to them? The night about . . . us?"

Raven nodded slightly, knowing what her daughter was eluding to.

All of the teens had been in the living room, trying to drown out the foreboding feeling that had been hanging over the entire house. Sesha had been jiggling the arcade stick on her lap, discontentedly hitting the buttons.

Ulrich was next to her fiddling with a controller in a similar fashion. Sesha scoffed and paused the game, freezing a match that she was actually winning over her brother.

"Something is going to happen today." She said, letting her rather heavy arcade stick plop onto the carpet between her feet.

Ulrich tossed the controller onto the armrest of the couch and rubbed his eyes. "Yeah. But what? What could make the whole house feel like this?"

Willow, who had been watching the match from the floor with her legs crossed, threw her hands up and fell backwards. Her head made to hit the arcade stick and Sesha swiftly pushed it aside with her foot before she collided with it. She ignored Sesha's muttered 'careful' and whined like a puppy.

"I don't know but I want it to stop." She said dejectedly.

"It obviously won't stop." Conrad said from one of the armchairs, putting his book down. "Whoever it is needs to come out in the open already."

Desiree sat up from her position on the couch beside Sesha.

"You think it's one of us?" She asked.

Conrad shook his head.

"We all wouldn't be here trying to ignore it if it was one of us." He said, not actually looking at any of his siblings but at the corner of the entrance that turned down the hallway.

"Alright, Conrad. We can take a hint." Their father said, coming around the corner.

Raven soon followed him and they joined hands and walked into the room.

"There is something we all need to talk about." She said.

For a moment the room tensed, all the pressure from the entire day encapsulating that moment.

"What about?" Sesha said as she squirmed.

Raven took a seat in the recliner that was situated in the corner where she could face all of her children.

"It's a subject that we need to talk about, as uncomfortable as it may make us." Raven started.

"Is this 'the talk'? The birds and the bees?" Conrad asked, a relieved, but slightly apprehensive, smile on his face.

Their father opened his mouth to reply but Sesha suddenly snorted, an odd sound in the tense room.

"We already got that talk." She turned to her sisters. "Right?"

"Sesha." Garfield tried to cut in sternly.

Sesha chuckled, a wry smile on her face. "The Japanese flag?"

Willow grunted from the floor. "Tom coming to visit?"

"Girls." Garfield warned.

Desiree huffed. "I'm not doing anything."

"The red moon." Willow said, giving a weak howl.

"Shark week! That one's my favorite!" Sesha said, snapping her jaws.

"Girls!" Garfield said with force.

The two perpetrators stilled immediately. After staring them down for a moment Garfield turned his head to look at Raven, who nodded at him in thanks.

"This is an expansion on that topic. More into the details." Raven started. "One detail is that your biology will most likely reject contraceptives. Your demon physiology will adapt and render it ineffective."

Sesha tilted her head. "So the pill might not work?"

"No." Raven answered simply.

Desiree blushed and clutched her pant legs. "So if we want to be . . . active . . . we'll have to rely more on, uh, condoms?"

"Yes." Raven said. "And no."

"Say what?" Willow said.

Their father sighed. "There is a chance that even that may not work. This is where what you inherited from me comes in." He paused to run his fingers through his hair. "Sex can be passionate and passion goes hand in hand with instinct with us. If we let go in those scenarios we may . . ."

"Make 'a beast in the sheets' literal?" Sesha said, her normal joking tone absent at what could be a pun.

Raven nodded. Her face reddened slightly, belying her stone face appearance. "Condoms are only effective if they stay on, or intact."

Desiree put her head in her hands. "Oh Azar."

"So be extra careful is the gist of this talk I'm guessing. Because health class only really applies to the humans that the books were written for?" Ulrich said with a passive tone.

Their parents answered simultaneously. "Yes."

Sesha waved her hands like she was swatting at a cloud of bugs around her head. "Awkward as all hell topic aside. Why did it make you feel like you were about to tell up we were adopted or something? That wasn't that bad, was it?"

Conrad spoke up. "Because of what could come after. While this information is essential to us when we're going to live with other hormonal teenagers of the same age to us, what is actually putting them on edge is what we could glean from it."

Ulrich nodded, Desiree continued to clutch her pant legs, but Willow and Sesha only stared at him to continue.

"Sesha, how old are we?" Conrad asked.

She quirked a brow and answered, "Sixteen. Why is that important?"

"How long have you two been married now?" Conrad asked, turning to their parents.

"Seventeen years." Garfield said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"So I'm curious about a few things." Conrad continued, his voice calm. "One is that, if what grandma said is true, you were a gentleman that waited until marriage. If my math checks out then we were conceived on your honeymoon or some time close to it. Am I correct?"

Raven and Garfield nodded.

"Then that means that you became very knowledgeable of what you just told us in a very short amount of time. I can't think of any demons willing to test birth control, so you were obviously the sole test subject. And given how antsy you were about it it was through trial and . . . error."

Raven sighed, "I should have known that you would be able to deduce this, Conrad."

Sesha cut in. "So we were an accident is what you're trying to say."

Conrad shrugged. "I could be assuming. They could have been active before marriage and kept our grandparents blissfully unaware, but given the nature of what you told us just now, I'm not sure. Even if you were active before the whole "passion" part gives some benefit of the doubt. This whole thing is begging to be clarified."

"You're right, Conrad," Their father said. He rubbed the back of his neck again. "About the accident, and the 'blissfully unaware' part."

Sesha made a noise like a child mocking another for breaking a rule in the classroom.

Raven rolled her eyes. "Before you assume anything else I want to stress that while you were an accident, you were never a mistake."

Sesha laughed and fell backwards into the couch.

"Of course. It would be stupid to think otherwise," She said.

Willow plopped onto her back again. Sesha, once again, needed to kick her arcade stick out from under her projected landing spot.

"Tryen to hit your head, aren't you?"

Willow ignored her, "You had me and Dez less than two years later, and Ethan almost the moment we were out. Kinda odd to repeat a mistake so big that many times."

"We know you don't regret having us. That was never in question," Conrad said, "I'm more curious as to the breakneck change of mind. Sesha, Ulrich and I were an accident. That implies that you were avoiding the prospect of children. Yet one slip up and the gloves are off. You go from zero to sixty and have six kids within the span of four years. Not just that but you keep going after triplets. We all enjoy the big family but we know we are on the larger size. Why?"

Garfield glanced at his wife. She met his eye, nodded, and took a breath before answering.

"Because we were warned against having children."

The teens' eyes widened, none expecting what had come out of their mother's mouth.

She paused to look at all of her children in turn.

"You all know I have the taint of Trigon in my blood. It was for the best to not let him have any more footholds than necessary. Even as I looked for an answer, a loophole, many said that there was too much of a risk. Dr. Fate, Constantine, Etrigan, Zatanna, even members of the Justice League. Trigon stripped so many freedoms from me, yet I learned to overcome so many of them. I was distraught that being a mother might be the one thing that I would never have a choice in."

Willow spoke hastily after her mother finished, "But we're all here. So it's obvious that something changed," She whipping her head around, pleading for someone to agree, "Right?"

"Of course," Their mother said, "I became pregnant. Accident or not we are going to face whatever happens."

Conrad made a contemplative sound, "So I take it that the two year period between us and the twins was a trial period of sorts?"

Raven nodded, understanding his meaning, but Garfield was the one that spoke an answer.

"When you three exhibited no negative signs of being," He hesitated to scratch the back of his head, "hybrids-"

Ulrich chuckled at the term.

"We decided we wanted more children." Garfield finished.

Raven turned to him, "You mean _you_ wanted more."

Willow chuckled, "Go dad!"

Suddenly the air tensed again. Slowly, the family turned to the oldest of the teens. Her head was bowed and her hair hid her eyes.

Sesha snarled and swiftly stood, making the family jump slightly. No matter how on guard they were, Sesha was rarely one to lose her temper at family or friends.

"We were deemed a threat before we even existed." She ground out as her wild hair swung and curtained her face.

Raven jumped up herself and nearly ran to her eldest, putting her hands on her shoulders, "Regardless of what was thought, it was only precaution. My own mother had the same doubts when she was pregnant with me."

Raven swallowed hard, "She was scared, abused and without anyone to turn to. Not to mention baring the bringer of the apocalypse. She was reckless and made mistakes."

Sesha lifted her head slightly, looking at her mother through her hair, "Did everyone think the same of us? Bringers of destruction?"

Raven shook her head slowly.

Sesha exhaled out of her nose harshly. "Did _any_ one?"

Raven almost hesitated, but recovered by putting her hand on her daughter's cheek.

"Not your father and I."

Sesha finally broke eye contact and let her head fall onto her mother's shoulder.

"But we're still freaks," She muttered, "Demonic beastly freaks. That's why the Dark wanted us to never exist right?"

Raven hugged Sesha and spoke into her hair. "Sesha, it doesn't matter what they said. They only thought that Trigon would have hold over my children. What matters is that you prove them wrong."

Sesha threw her arms up, ripping herself from her mother's grip.

"You know what else matters? We've meet them and even idolized some of them and now _this_? I can take some evangelical _preachers_ that say were abominations, self righteous fucking _poachers_ that think we'll be the ultimate kill," Sesha spat, "Those bastards will always be a vocal minority, sometimes even arrested for threatening our lives. But the people who I want to fight with side by side thinking that before we were even born?"

"Isn't this over reacting a bit, Sesha?" Conrad said.

"Really?!" Sesha nearly yelled. "We get told that they had basically told mom and dad to abort us and you think I'm overreacting?!"

"Yes. You are." Ulrich said while jabbing a finger at her. "We don't know the whole story. All of the contingencies the Justice League Dark has in place for Trigon and any possible path for him back to Earth are justified to protect the it. Like it or not we are one of those paths. We are a threat and we can't be angry at them for protecting the innocent."

"From us?" Sesha snapped. "We've helped! We've done our part every weekend we go to the Tower! So we just roll over and let them put a knife to our throats in case our skin turns red?"

"They obviously won't go that far. It's still the Justice League we're talking about here." Ulrich said.

"Mom said Constantine," Sesha said with a humorless snort, "I wouldn't put that past him."

"Constantine is an asshole, I'll give you that, but mom has pull in the JL Dark. She wouldn't let anything like that happen." Conrad said.

"You know as well as I do that they must have _something_ on us. To neutralize us. Most likely to kill us because it's probably _safe_ to assume that being unconscious or sealing us in a room won't stop us from being one of these 'paths'." Sesha said as she towered over Conrad's slouched posture.

Desiree's small voice cut in, "Did they tell you to? To have an abortion?"

"No." Raven said with a horse voice. "They would never tell me to make that decision. Nor would I think of it once I felt you come into consciousness within me. Which due to your short gestation period and our unique nature was faster then we could even account for. Once I was pregnant it was up to you to prove their fears wrong. Although it was clear that some felt they knew better."

"You can read emotions." Sesha said, some of the anger in her voice being replaced by sadness while she addressed her mother. "Who was disappointed? Who was angry? Who was scared that we were born? Dr. Fate? Zatanna?! She tutors us in magic for Azar's sake! I could care less about the assholes on the street who throw weak slurs like 'freak' or 'animal', and I can punch two bit robbers that say the same. But I don't want my idols and teachers to look at us differently."

There was a pause that let her rant hang in the air. Her words weighed down her siblings and made them squirm with how much they also felt what she described. The air became thick with their dejection towards the vitriol, both direct and empathized, of the more uncaring masses. As much of a brace face Sesha put on, they had to build up the think skin she was displaying. Raven clenched her fists at the hurricane of misery that silently roared around her.

"This is what I was afraid of."

Everyones head snapped up at the tone in the voice. It didn't register until now just how much guilt was coming off of their mother until they could place it in her voice. They could scarcely believe their eyes even as the glistening trails appeared on her face.

They had never before seen their mother cry.

Green hands came from behind her and tenderly wiped the tears away. Unfortunately they still fell after and the hands wrapped around her shoulders. Their father clutched her to his chest, the look in his eyes told them that this wasn't the first time he had comforted these emotions.

"I have done things I am still atoning for. Things that make me see a monster in the mirror. Things that have changed some people's lives for a long time." Raven said with a warbling voice.

Conrad stepped forward. "Mom, that isn't-"

Garfield's raised hand quieted him.

"I was afraid that these things was following my selfish desire to have my own children, despite the risks. All I could think of when I was pregnant was if I was passing on my darkness. That I would mar your lives for as long as you lived. I was afraid of," She paused to clutch the arms embracing her, "what I would do to you by being your mother."

Not a second after she was done speaking did a green winged piglet fly towards her. Raven didn't hesitate in catching and and hugging it to her chest. A moment later the piglet turned into Willow and was burying her face in the crook of her mother's neck, her feet dangling.

Soon after Desiree was doing the same on Raven's other shoulder.

"You're the best mom we could ask for." She said, slightly muffled. Her twin nodded franticly, keeping her face against her mother's neck.

Sesha walked up and joined her father and sisters in comforting their mother.

Ulrich sighed from the couch, having sat back down. "As morbid as it might be to say as the ones who would have never existed, it was your right to choose. You are a heroine. If you did it for what you believed was the greater good of the Earth, then no one would have blamed you."

Sesha chuckled. "Even though I kinda enjoy, you know, existing."

"We kinda have a bias." Conrad suggested nonchalantly.

The room passed into a lull, Ravens soft crying having quieted. It was much more calm than any of the ones before it. Underneath the group hug, Sesha grinned.

"So." Sesha broke the silence. "Would you care to elaborate on how hard you two going at it to make condoms useless?"

Garfield threw his arms up, breaking all of the girls from the hug, did an about face and walked out of the room. Before he turned the corner he shouted. "Not touching that one!"

Raven was following him immediately after. "She's worse than you at ruining moments."

The teens were all swatting at their eldest sibling who was held in a choke hold by Ulrich.

"I had to ask! We need to know how careful we need to be, don't we!? Ow! Willow you don't need to hit that hard! Ow!"

The scuffle lasted a while until Sesha made a genuine bid to escape. A ripping sound stilled all of them. They all looked down at Sesha's talons rending a hole in the carpeted floor.

"We should tell mom and dad to get stone floors." Ethan suggested.

Raven blinked the memory away, softly chuckling at the ending and looked down at Sesha. She was resting her cheek on her mother's collarbone, trying herself to shut away the more anger ridden parts of the same night.

She guided her daughter into the room the rest of the family having taken already taken the cue to start piling into the bed.

"Do they still doubt us?" Sesha asked quietly as they walked up. "All those guys that you mentioned having warned against having us."

The rest of the family stopped situating themselves on the bed, recognizing the topic at hand.

Raven sighed, "Everyone has doubts about the safety of our world. All they think of you is needing to prove yourself."

Sesha blew a puff of air out of her nose, "Sounds like sugar coating."

"Maybe. But do you think that I would let anyone doubt my decisions after all I've done to save this planet?"

"Pretty sure you would give em a piece of your mind." Desiree said. "I actually wanna know how the 'don't go maken' babies' pitch went."

"As well as you can imagine." Garfield said as he resumed getting comfortable on the crowded mattress. "But the story can wait for another day."

Conrad nodded, "We'll hold you to that. I want to know what Constantine in particular had to say about us."

Raven scoffed at the mention of the sorcerer, "As much as he could say before I stared him down. He knows not to cross me."

"You always say you have something on him. What is it?" Ulrich said as he cocked his head.

"Another story for another day." Raven said.

"Awww mom," Sesha whined, "Tell us now, please? I wanna know why he always seems to shit his pants when you enter the same room as him."

"If tomorrow wasn't such a huge occasion then I would have but we need to sleep for the coming day." Raven said, making herself comfortable amongst the large number of bodies.

Willow bounded up and down, even in her prone position. "Tomorrow is the big day!"

She took the form of a ferret and coiled in the crook of her mother's arm and under her chin.

Raven looked down at her furry green daughter and said, "If you're going to be there you better not change form at all."

Willow yawned a small ferret yawn and gave her mothers chin a small lick as a response.

Desiree mirrored her twin as a cat in the nook of her father's arm so that they were in between their parents. Ethan took the rest of the space between them and his brothers took spots at opposite sides of the bed. Conrad was perched as a crow on the headboard and Ulrich as a wolf at the foot of the bed.

"Smaller." Raven said.

The wolf grumbled and turned into a terrier.

Sesha looked like she was debating something in her head until a smile lit up her face. Fluttering to the pillows at the head of the mattress as a canary she shifted into an otter and curled up between all three of Ethan and their parents' heads. All of siblings' emotions softened alongside their breathing and soon they were all asleep in their animal forms, followed closely by their parents.

Save for Ethan.

He looked through his blond bangs at each of his shifted siblings with drooped eyelids. After rubbing his eyes with his hands, doing his best not to disturb his sisters, he gave a tired sigh.

Finally he closed his eyes and followed his family into sleep.


	4. Return to the Nest

I finished this one a bit sooner then I thought so I'll let it go early. This was one of the biggest blocks I faced. Introducing all of the other Titans. Shout out to Hitch for giving Cyborg a son from the future in the recent Justice League comics that I can borrow. I was about to have Cyborg be childless because of my no other OC rule until a few issues of Justice League came out.

After I finally get through this "intro" arc I think I can get in the swing of this. Felt like I was pushing a boulder up a hill just to get to all the plans I had after I got to the top.

* * *

The tall tower that stood above them was a breathtaking sight. At least to the children. To the two adults that stood at their sides, it meant something familiar.

Home.

Willow craned her neck to bask in the light spilling out from behind the monolith at the center of the island they stood on.

"Guys!" she squealed.

Sesha inhaled sharply through her nose, though the rest of the family seemed to ignore her outburst.

"What?" she replied with an edge.

Willow pumped her hands up and down at her sides rapidly and, with an excited flourish, spread her hands out to the building that they were gathered in front of.

"Today's the day!"

Sesha held her hands in front of her, choking an invisible neck.

"We get it. We heard you the first thirty times," she grit out through her teeth.

"Today!" Willow shouted with a fist pump.

"We," Sesha grunted.

"Is!" Willow.

"Get," Sesha.

"The!" Willow.

"It," Sesha.

"Day!" Willow shouted with a last big hop.

Sesha opened her mouth to yell at her, but someone behind them beat her to it.

"Willow!"

They all turned to the voice seeing two figures that weren't there two seconds ago.

"Iris! Flash!"

The taller figure had a two tone suit that was red on the torso and a richer red down the waist with a belt of white electricity.

"Please," The Flash said, "You can still call me Wally in costume."

The smaller figure vanished, reappearing instantly giving Willow a vice like hug. The moment she could react Willow returned it.

She was wearing a red and cream leotard, detailed with yellow lines of lightning that separated the two tones that made up perpendicular thirds, going red, cream, red. Her red hair came out of the sides of her cowl in pigtails. Iris giggled and stepped out of the hug.

"It's Impulse, now!" she said putting her fists on her hips. She looked around at all of the siblings, smiling and waving at them. She rapidly darted her eyes between the siblings with a crooked brow in confusion but held her question when Conrad and Ulrich shook their heads and held fingers to their lips.

Iris disregarded her curiosity and greeted them, "Hey guys! Today is-"

"We get it!" Sesha yelled.

Willow, though, sprang forward and slung an arm over Iris' shoulders while starting to prance in circles chanting the phrase. Sesha glanced at their parents, silently pleading for a saving grace. The pair only shrugged in response.

"To be honest, I was just as excited when we got the request from the Justice League to join the League," Garfield said, "And I was almost twice their age."

"You still get excited whenever we report to the Watchtower," Raven said.

"Oh, come on, Rae! It's _space_!" Garfield exclaimed, waving his arms at the sky like a theater actor pleading to the gods.

Willow clutched her hands underneath her chin, "When are we gonna go the the Watchtower?"

"We didn't step foot onto the Watchtower until we were, like, 20," Garfield shrugged, "You might get there sooner with how well you've been performing. Especially as only weekend members. At least were, now that-"

"Today is the day!" Willow cut him off at the top of her lungs.

Just as Sesha tackled her to the ground, the doors to the tower opened. Out of the Tower a red suited figure walked up to them, his chest emblazoned with a gold R along with the green highlights adorning his chest and black tactical leggings and boots. A scowl permitted from under the domino mask that was on his face that made everyone there think of a certain caped crusader. Beside him a great mass of red hair walked.

"Goliath!" Sesha shouted and leapt off of Willow.

The large animal the size of a passenger van unfurled his leathery wings and wagged his tail that was the length of his body.

Sesha collided with Goliath and started to scratch his neck, "Who's a good boy!? Who's a good bat dragon thing!?"

As Goliath rolled over, giving Sesha the ability to scratch his belly, the young man that was standing next to him shouted, "Goliath, have some dignity!"

Her sisters walked over to Goliath and joined in petting the large beast.

"Loosen up, Robin!" a voice said from behind him.

Robin turned to the voice and saw a young man descending to the beach. He wore a simple pair of jeans and a muscle hugging red and blue jacket that had the iconic S shield in the center of his chest with a red cape flowing behind him.

"No," Robin said simply.

The young man shrugged, "Worth a shot."

He touched down and looked to the gathering of Titans, new and veteran, "Flash. Mr. and Ms. Logan. Great to see you again."

"And you as well, Superboy," Raven greeted while the men greeted with small solutes.

"Hi, Jon," Sesha muttered under her breath after standing up to wave by wiggling fingers next to her face and a small smile.

Jon turned to her, his kryptonian hearing picking up her whisper. His face reddened a fraction when Sesha's eyes gained a predatory glint.

" _So, he's the one you've been fawning over_ ," Ethan's voice rang in her head.

" _I don't fawn. I hunt_ ," she responded.

Ethan leaned away, " _Isn't he twenty?_ "

" _Your point?_ "

" _You're seventeen._ "

" _For not even half a year._ "

Outside of the two siblings' mental conversation Robin silently stood in front of the group, as if sizing them up.

"Follow me," Robin said, turning without greeting anyone.

"Still gotta give us the Bat shoulder? We are gonna be here a while now, so be kind to your new roommates," Willow said.

"There is no point in wasting time exchanging pleasantries when will do it again once everyone arrives," Robin answered over his shoulder.

"Who else is here?" Garfield asked the two young men.

"Let's see," Jon said. He looked up and squinted at the building, "Cyborg, Cube, Nightstar, Cassie came with Diana earlier. Same with Speedy and his parents."

He blinked at something he said, "Oh yeah! Some Justice League is here too."

Whatever telepathic conversation Ethan was having with Sesha halted as he flinched.

"Justice League? Who?" Sesha asked curiously.

"Wonder Woman, Black Canary and Green Arrow like I brushed over earlier, Zatanna, my dad and technically Cyborg and you guys too," Jon finished motioning to the Titan veterans.

Ethan glanced with concern at his eldest sibling. Her lips were trembling in a manner that happened when she was telepathically conversing with someone while distracted enough to forget she wasn't physically speaking.

He prodded back into her mind and was bombarded with her anger.

His mother's voice faded into his mind, " _-no reason to be this mad._ "

" _Just tell me who does and doesn't and I won't be angry anymore,_ " Sesha's inhuman guttural 'voice' growled through his cranium.

Their mother answered sternly, " _I won't allow you to use the process of elimination so you vilify anyone we all said was only looking out for the Earth's protection._ "

" _If you recall, I never agreed. I just want to know who I have to . . . prove myself to. Looks like I'll have to do so with everyone,_ " Sesha responded in a calm tone unbefitting the demonic reverberation in her 'voice'.

" _You want someone to justify your anger towards,_ " Raven chastised, " _You boast of being the eldest._ "

Suddenly the image of four eyes that burned into his mind like red hot shards was forced into his mind. Immediately after a voice resounded that made Sesha's 'voice' sound like a kitten.

" ** _Act like it_**."

Sesha turned her head away from their mother a fraction, regardless of not having been actually facing her. Sesha's presence retreated back into her own mind with a wavering ember of fury.

" _Ow_ ," Ethan thought plainly.

Raven's eyes widened a fraction, " _I might be disappointed with her right now, but I agree with Sesha about the bell. I didn't mean for you to see that_."

" _My fault. I went in without letting you guys know,_ " Ethan waved it off.

After Ethan retreated, Raven stared at the back of his head and thought to herself with a hint of worry, " _I should have sensed you either way_."

From where he stood waiting for the group at the elevator entrance Robin took notice of the facial cues from each member of the silent conversation.

They all entered the main elevator and Jon spoke to the new Titans.

"It's your first time here, right?" Jon said.

Ethan and Iris nodded.

"At least to this tower," Iris said.

"I never went outside of the medical bay for long when mom portaled us here. I only remember this place for the check ups," Ethan said in a small voice, rubbing his arm.

Jon saw the gesture and detected the faint scarring over the cubital vein under the hand Ethan rubbed his arm with using his enhanced vision. Jon immediately changed the subject to the gaming room even when it was floors above them.

"We have everything in there. Arcade cabinets, Foosball, every board game imaginable, consoles with plasma screens for each one."

Sesha and Iris made a small sound of disgust.

"With lag reduction, and some CRTs," Conrad added.

Jon rolled his eyes.

"We sometimes have to pry Conrad from it," Jon explained.

"Which is the only reason he beats my high scores!" Sesha interjected, "He practically makes it his room every time we spent the weekends here!"

Raven turned to her mentioned son as the rest of the elevator started chuckling at him.

Conrad tilted away from her disciplinary stare, "Come on, Sesh. Stop exaggerating. I only fell asleep in the bean bags a few times."

Iris started to hound Conrad for details about the gaming room and Jon continued to describe the many floors to Ethan.

The group entered the common room to see two of the various heroes who Superboy had listed. The multi story room looked much bigger with only two figures in it.

"Cube, Nightstar," Robin asked curtly as he entered the room, "Who has yet to arrive?"

Nightstar looked down from her perch from the outside of one of the upper walkway railings. Her costume was almost as risque as her mother's but didn't quite expose as much of her slightly orange skin. A very low cut off the shoulder lavender leotard that had sheer fabric sleeves with an excess of fabric to billow at her sides like drapes and thigh high boots. On her forehead was a simple metal tiara that pushed her black as night hair back and down towards the small of her back.

She noticed Flash and Impulse walking side by side as well as the Logans walking in a tight group. She sighed silently before turning back to the window.

An African American male at the computer console turned as well. He had blue circuits running all over his body and the skin around them was a gradient from his natural chocolate color to a near powder blue were the circuits were on his skin. His black dreads were tied back by a red scarf. A white full body leotard hugged his impressive six foot frame. It also had designs reminiscent of the articulation that Cyborg's machinery had covering the inside of his joints and was outlined by seams in a hue similar to the blue circuits covering his arms.

"Blue Beetle and Static still haven't gotten to their boom tube stations yet," he answered, "I'll be the first to know when they show up."

"Where's everyone else?" Ulrich asked looking around the sparsely populated room.

"Cube's dad is in the hanger flagging the new members for the boom tubes," Nightstar said without turning, "Everyone else went to join him to wait just before you got here."

Robin narrowed his eyes at the boy at the console, "And he can get past my firewalls?"

"Are you forgetting Cyborg is the living computer that programmed this tower in the first place?" Garfield said with some pride for his best friend, "That's like telling someone you can beat them in a game that he made and play tested."

Robin blew a sharp short breath through his teeth.

"My dad beating your security aside, Robin," Cube said with a smirk, "Static and BB should be here any minute."

Garfield peeked up for a second. Then shook his head with a smile, "Blue Beetle, right. I dropped the 'Boy' years ago and that still got me."

"Oh!" Sesha suddenly yelled.

Without explanation she bolted up the walkway towards the living quarters and out of the room, leaving the occupants confused or slightly flabbergasted.

"What was that about?" Iris asked.

Willow scratched her head, "Felt like she randomly remembered something."

She paused and looked down at her clothes. A simple lilac tank top and denim shorts with sandals to expose her slightly clawed green feet.

"Ooooh," she said slowly and vanished into minty mist.

Ulrich whipped his Titan communicator up and tapped the screen, "Forty two minutes."

Conrad chuckled, "They almost got an hour? They must have been excited."

Iris turned to Desiree, "Is that what they shushed me about on the beach?"

Desiree laughed and raised her arms to spread her black hooded cloak to reveal a black full body leotard that had a built in short skirt with a loose broached belt that called back to one of her mother's teenage uniforms. Intricate rich violet seams danced on the surface to imitate swirling magic that coalesced down her arms and legs to make clouds over her fingerless gloves and the bottom of her boots. On the back of her hands and clasping her cloak were the same brooches on her belt with red gems embedded in them.

"They have a habit of forgetting their uniforms, so the boys like to see how long it takes for them to notice."

Iris looked at her incredulously, "I know Willow is a bit of an airhead but that's just silly."

"They're so busy shapeshifting their bodies that what they wear hardly registers to them," Conrad said with a chuckle, "Even though our costumes are a little hard to miss compared to what they normally wear."

As he spoke he adjusted his white cloak to take off his feathered hood, barely giving a view of his white spandex shirt and shorts. They had various red markings on them that made the illusion that there were claw gashes on his biceps, waist and thighs that went horizontally and had seams that carved the white fabric into segments over his arms abdomen and legs. He also had a belt like his father but it had a buckle like his mother's red gem broach.

He scratched his head in the same motion with his gloved hand. Though they were fingerless like his sister's to let him use his claws from optimum scratching they instead had red markings down the back of his hands from each knuckle. The motion of his scratching caused the red feathers that lined his cloak and coated his hood and shoulders to rustle and gleam with a green iridescence. They also brushed the floor just around his bare feet.

"They're just lucky we have extras already here," Ulrich said as he tugged on his own deep purple hood. He raised his arms to look down at his own suit. It was black with the same purple as his cloak making markings of feathers down his sides and arms that ended in actual feathers on his arms and thighs where the suit ended and left his hands and feet exposed, "Regardless if it would have been for only the trip over here it's hilarious they would forget their uniforms on their first day as full time members."

"They need a reminder on preparedness if that is still a problem," Robin said.

Superboy shook his head, "You know that's unnecessary. They don't need their costumes because they don't have secret identities and they don't need gadgets or armor like you. They just want to look cool."

"Says the boy who never grew out of jeans," Robin said in a blasé manner.

"Hey. You know these aren't the same jeans I started in!" Jon shot back.

Robin smirked and didn't say anything in return, choosing to let it sink in for the Kryptonian.

There was beat of silence and when a look of realization crossed Jon's face the room erupted in laughter at his expense. Before he could say anything to defend himself someone landed at his side.

"Don't worry, Jon," Sesha said putting an elbow on his shoulder, "I still think you look good in jeans, but I have to say I think pants are overrated."

With her other hand she threw her black cloak back and put her hand on her hip. She wore a simple black leotard that had to perpendicular seams from her collarbones to her thighs. A red band went around her waist and adorning it was three brooches on her abdomen and red feathers on her waist creating a side skirt. The only other thing that she wore were two black fingerless gloves that had the back of her hand exposed with red bands around her wrists and red feathers attached as well.

"Of course you would think that they're overrated," Jon said, making an effort to keep from looking at her completely exposed legs.

"Yeah, well. They get in the way," she said nonchalantly as her legs shifted, snapped and reformed into a more reptilian form, donned with porcupine quills sprouting upward from each of her outside thighs, and quickly back into human legs and skin.

"The lengths you go to show off your legs," A voice said behind her.

Green hands grabbed her hood and pushed it far over her face. Sesha dropped her arm off of Jon and turned to the voice, throwing her hood off.

"You aren't one to talk," Sesha said to her sister.

Willow grinned a toothy smile before Sesha did the same to her and grabbed her hood, flopping it awkwardly over her head. It caused her long ponytail to come over her face and trail down her front. She scrambled to right her hair, her arms floundering and exposing her leotard that was almost identical to Sesha's but had more pronounced broaches that circled her waist entirely. Her forearms, elbows and knees had black wrappings akin to an MMA fighter. From the wrapping sprouted erratic feathers that were most pronounced going down the bottom edge of her forearms, ending on wing like plumage growing from her elbows.

When her hood was down and her hair righted Willow glared at Sesha and tugged her cloak over herself.

"I don't have bones most of the time so pants are even more constricting on me then on you," Willow said.

Cube cleared his throat, "As engrossing as you channeling Squidward sounds, Static and Blue Beetle are coming now."

He motioned to the screen, a view of the hanger showing two figures walk out of the swirling vortexes being generated by the golden rings of machinery in the wall. The gathered heroes in the room greeted them, their voices dulled through the surveillance footage. The pair's nervousness was palpable as they spoke to Wonder Woman and Superman.

"Then let's go meet them," Jon said, making to glide toward the giant double doors that lead to the hanger.

"We're vegan, could we tofu 'em instead?" Sesha quipped as she sarcastically raised her hand like a schoolgirl.

Garfield and Nightstar laughed while everyone else ignored the pun and followed Jon..

"I expected more from you, Nightstar," Robin said, his serious tone making it hard to know if it was sarcasm or not.

"She's my friend. I have to give her a pity laugh every now and then," she defended.

"Do that and they'll never let you hear the end of it," Raven said.

As the Titans filtered into the hanger Robin hesitated and turned to a figure near the back.

"What's your excuse?" Damian said.

"For what?"

Damian kept his hard stare on the figure. It sighed and gestured to his cloths, a green hoodie, tan shorts and unmarked sneakers.

"My strength lies in being inconspicuous. My ears are barely pointed let alone my not green or gray skin. If I'm just another kid in the crowd that's all I'll ever make you think," Ethan said and walked to follow the rest of the group, disappearing as the doors closed.

Damian pulled out a tablet from his belt and proceeded to type.

A few minutes later Robin walked through the doors to see everyone introducing themselves. The boy Robin knew as Connor "Speedy" Queen was explaining his unique mix of archery and his sonic screech while he stood with his parents, Green Arrow and Black Canary.

"I can even use it as a form of echolocation, but I'm a ways to go before I can use it as well as my mom."

Blue Beetle and Static, or Jaime Reyes and Virgil Hawkins were listening to Cassie Sandsmark, or Wonder Girl, display her lasso while Wonder Woman stood by her.

The older Amazon stood silently off to the side of the interaction. Superman himself was beside her as they exchanged a few words quietly. Robin was already peeved at the presence of Justice League members, even if they had agreed to do no more then oversee their successors or children. He looked over to the Flash and the Logan matriarchs, all three both Titan and Justice League members, and admitted to himself that some compromises were necessary in the interwoven network of heroes.

Robin would have laughed at the idea that Superboy still had his father hovering over him at twenty years old, but he knew there were other reasons for the Man of Steel's visit.

Robin eyed Willow for a moment, noticing that she was wringing her cape in her hands behind her back. Robin sighed silently. It was a tell that she wanted to say something.

"And last but obviously not least," Jon cued, also noticing Willow's silent plight.

"The Pack!" Willow said, grabbing her siblings together with boneless arms.

"Is it too late to change it?" Raven said as Garfield laughed.

"It's a general name for a group of animals. Pack just has a punch to it and Flock doesn't sound good and then Murder doesn't paint a good picture," Willow ran on, "Even if it's a name for a flock of ravens."

"Or Conspiracy. Seriously, who gives these names to groups of animals? Must think ther're clever or something." Conrad said.

"We got your group name. Now how about your individual names?" Robin prodded not too unkindly.

Sesha glared playfully at him, unaffected by the barbs in his tone. Then turned to the rest of the heros in the room with a smile and bowed low.

"My name is Sesha Logan! Or as Robin likes to exclusively call me," she jumped up straight and revealed her face, now that of a goat with horns quickly growing out of her forehead. She raised her lion paws and a tail twitched from behind her. A scorpion tail.

"Chimera!" she finished through her goat mouth, yet with fangs instead of herbivore molars.

When Static and Blue Beetle's eyes widened at her appearance, she chuckled and her face and arms became human again.

"I'm a shapeshifter that likes to glue extremities where they don't belong. With some magic," she finished with an indifferent shake of her hands at her sides, showing off the electricity that crackled on them.

"Conrad Logan," he introduced himself, simply raising a hand, "Or Instinct."

Sesha chuckled, "Cause he only ever moves through," her tail sprang out at Conrad, slamming against the shell of a transparent turtle, "reaction."

Conrad hadn't even flinched, or even looked at the object that had almost impaled his face, though the turtle pushed Sesha's tail away as it shrank away back into her tailbone.

"Shapeshifting spell caster whose spells take shape," he said blandly as the turtle that crawled on his shoulder dissipated. He turned to the sibling next to him.

"Hi, I'm Willow!" she said with exuberance, "Standard Logan shapeshifting and magic with my awesome portal."

A green void opened and she outstretched a hand to catch a popsicle that fell out of it.

"I put this in here a week ago," she said as she munched the frozen treat with a grin.

"Your portal kept it frozen?" Static asked.

Willow gnawed on the last chunks of frozen juice and shook her head, making the stick flop side to side.

"Preserved it," She explained, "Hot or cold it will stay as it was when I put it in."

Slowly, the smile on Willow's face fell and she spat the popsicle stick back into the void and shuffled over to her mother, looking very small as she did so.

Raven looked down at her with a curious look, "You wanted to surprise me with your moniker and now you're suddenly nervous?"

Willow bounced from side to side on her feet before turning into a small raven and fluttering onto her shoulder and started to caw softly into her mother's hair.

"Okay, about what?" Raven asked, looking curiously at the bird through the corner of her eye.

More cawing.

"Why did you wait so long?" Raven rolled her eyes slightly.

Cawing again.

"A lot of things distract you," she chuckled softly.

A squawk and Raven had to tilt her head away as the bird fluttered her wings.

"Yes, yes. Tell me," Raven said with a small laugh.

Her eyes widened, "Oh, I see how that could make you nervous, but you are right. It is nice to shove it in his face."

She picked the bird up off her shoulder and caressed her in her hands.

"Willow, I love it," Raven said softly pressed her lips to the birds forehead.

"That's so sweet," Cassie cooed.

"You understood that?!" Jamie exclaimed.

"One of the patrons' blessings is understanding animals," Cassie said.

"That could be useful," Conrad stated.

Jamie looked like he was about to ask another question but was cut off by Conrad saying, "Telepathy. Our mom can't understand animals."

As the bird flew from her hands Raven looked at her husband and quipped, "Even that one and I still married him."

Willow reappeared in human form with an even bigger smile than before, if that was even possible, and sprang back into introducing herself.

"Facet! Cause I take on the attributes of animals! From the mantis shrimp in the sea," she threw a couple of jabs that were almost too quick to see, "To the birds in the sky!" she spread her arms and the feathers on them gleamed as she hovered in the air for a moment, "And facets are the attributes of gems and gem like my mom!"

"Awww. Willow, that's so cute!" Desiree said.

"Using a piece of the prophecy is cute?" Sesha muttered.

Willow shrugged, "I wanted to give _him_ one last insult by taking 'Gem' as a moniker. Or at least my own twist on it. She lived to beat him, so why not own it?"

She twirled around and ran behind her twin and pushed her forward, "Your turn!"

"Yeah, yeah. Keep yer feathers on," Desiree said as she readjusted her cloak after it was jostled by Willow.

"I'm Desiree. Everything my parents can do, I can do. But I can do only do one," she spread her arms as her face became green and her suit changed from black to white and the violet seams turned to red, "or the other. Or have one eclipse the other, because I once heard dad being really corny on Valentine's Day and call mom his 'moon'. So my moniker is Eclipse."

Raven's face colored slightly and Garfield tugged her into his side with a smile.

Ulrich stepped forward and started his own intro, "I'm Ulrich or Hybrid because, to be honest, hybrid is the best description. Siblings and I are hybrids. Mom and dad are hybrids and put all of our powers in a blender and you get me. I'm the jack of all trades."

"Master of none," Sesha said with a grin.

"We all can technically do what all of the others can do, some of us just suck at what another might be great at," Ulrich said as he glared at Sesha.

When Sesha meet his stare unflinchingly he turned away with a smile and shake of his head and continued, "We each have our specialties or discrepancies like Desiree being semi-limited to one power set at a time or Conrad excelling at his magic constructs. I, however, am a mixed bag in what I'm good at."

"Semi-limited?" Cassie asked, turning to Desiree, "Are there scenarios that you can do both at the same time?

"It's not for lack of ability," Desiree explained while waving her hands in an indifferent manner, "More it just being way too painful. It hurt so much I passed out the last time I tried without the spells that make it easier and even after that the spells take time."

"Does it hurt to just switch powers?" Virgil asked, slightly aghast at how calmly she talked about making herself blackout.

Desiree shrugged, "No more than it does to transform or absorb pain to heal. We barely feel it at this point. We all have high pain thresholds."

"I don't have to deal with any of that, though." Ethan said.

Sesha jumped and turned to the boy that had been standing almost directly behind her.

"You," She jabbed a finger at a smirking Ethan, "Bell." She jabbed the finger at his neck.

He chuckled and pushed the finger aside as he walked forward to address the gathering, "I'm Ethan. Ethan Logan in case my normal skin and hair throws you off. I can't transform or do any innate magic, unless you count my ability to take anyone's perception and skew it to my advantage. Make it so you don't perceive something or make you imagine something is there that doesn't exist. It's useful to minimize collateral damage or in hostage situations or something like that. As for any learned magic, I'm still a bit of a novice but it's a little troublesome in comparison to my siblings because I have to rely on actually learning it instead of them having the basics being ingrained in them at birth."

He shrugged and continued, "Guess you can call me the runt of 'the Litter' in terms of powers. So call me Runt."

There was a beat of silence as they all stared at the boy that spoke more in the last minute then the length of time they were even aware he was in the room.

"You've got to be kidding," Robin said in an irritated tone.

"Did that fall flat?" Ethan said sheepishly, "Yeah, I am. My real code name is Placebo."

"Not funny, bro," Sesha said with her arms crossed in discontent.

"Just because your powers aren't as forward as ours doesn't make you a runt," Ulrich said.

Ethan chuckled, "Yeah. Thanks."

Desiree hugged him into her side and ruffled his hair.

"Don't sell yourself short. You turned Adonis' brain into an omelette yesterday," she said.

Robin cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention.

"Introductions are done. Now we are to test your abilities," Robin said.

"Jeez," Jamie said, "It's like being back at school. Schoolwork on the first day."

"We just explained our abilities. Can't we settle in and get to know our teammates now?" Speedy asked.

Robin crossed his arms and said, "It's said the best way to do that is with fists instead of words."

Most of the young Titans groaned at the prospect of sparing, however one was quick to express the opposite.

"Oh yeah!" Sesha said with gusto, "Please say you got me a sparing pal."

Robin 'hmm'ed almost silently, "I knew you would ask first. So yes, I did. You're going against Static."

Virgil jolted upright, "Me?! I just got here and you putting me against an active Titan!?"

Sesha sauntered over to him and smirked.

"Don't worry. I'll leave you in one piece," she said.

Willow covered her mouth with her jointless arms and giggled while mumbling something about gum and pirates.


	5. Titan Matchup

"Why me? How do you even know she won't trounce me?" Virgil asked Robin.

"I've read all of your dossiers. I matched you up for a reason," Damian said.

"You'll do fine Virgil," Superboy said, "Stay on your toes, play keep away, and don't let her goad you into anything."

"You know a lot on how to fight her, huh?" Virgil responded.

"She likes a challenge and I happen to be the strongest Titan stationed here," Superboy explained.

"Yeah, sure! Keep telling yourself that!" Sesha yelled from across the arena.

The large room in the belly of the tower took up the entire square footage of the floor it was on. The elevator shaft jutted out of the wall to make the most room for the many obstacles, trees, faux broken walls and other such debris to simulate as many terrains as possible to train in. Although they had settled on a portion of the arena that was a plain dirt field.

At the ceiling of the arena was a glass observatory that the elevator passed through to give a full view of the arena. The only ones inside were the veteran heroes while the young adults stood in the arena itself.

The Logan teens surrounded Sesha, the mix of emotions coming off of them telling her to calm down.

"Jeez, you guys. Stop feeling like I'm about to make a meal out of him," Sesha said as she waved her hands at them, as if that would disperse their anticipation for the spar.

"We felt you outside." Ulrich said. "You were angrier than when Adonis almost made you snap yesterday."

Sesha's smile fell away instantly.

"I'm not angry at the new guy," Sesha said, making her hostility on the subject known, "I'm angry at-"

She stopped and looked over all of their shoulders. When they followed her line of sight into the glass observatory they saw Zatanna having exited the elevator and start talking to their parents and Superman.

Sesha flinched as a voice forced itself into her head.

" _Calm the hell down, Sesha._ " Conrad thought, " _She is one of the last members to think that would have advocated to have us aborted or have lethal measures placed against us._ "

" _Why's that? Cause she's buddy buddy with mom and dad?_ " Sesha thought with venom as she fought to look elsewhere other than the sorceress in question. " _Where was she earlier? Wasn't she supposed to be in the hanger for our little pow wow like Jon said, or was she too busy with something else?_ "

" _Because we know her. Get it through your thick skull,_ " Ulrich interjected, " _She wouldn't have trained us if she wanted to, how you put it, put a knife to our throats. Regardless of what she was doing it was most likely for our safety."_

" _Our's or theirs?_ " Sesha spat.

" _You know we can't make that decision if it comes down to it,_ " Desiree thought, pressing her calmness into Sesha.

Next to her Willow whined quietly with a bar of granola in her mouth.

Sesha bowed her head and clenched her fists. Her fangs receded and her hair relaxed from standing on end on the nape of her neck.

" _Doesn't mean I have to like it,"_ Sesha thought as her fists fell.

" _Of course not, but we can deal with it. Like mom prepared us for,_ " Ulrich said, " _What happened to all that pride you were talking about that night?_ "

Sesha laughed half heartedly, put a hand to her head in slight shame and thought, " _We all know I'm too angry to actually hold myself to what I say half the time._ "

A shout broke them out of their silent conversation.

"Are you ready over there?!" Static called out.

They turned again to see as Static reached into his backpack and pulled out what looked like a metal pizza slice. He threw it at his feet and it unsheathed into a disk before it hit the ground, floating on arcs of electricity.

Sesha took a breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again her cocky smile was back on her face and she walked past her siblings. She gave her fellow triplets a reassuring pat on the shoulders as she did so.

A few minutes prior Zatanna had exited the elevator into the observatory.

"How's progress?" Raven asked her as she walked up.

"The wards and protective spells have been redone," Zatanna said, "Constantine is making sure that they stay undetected as the surge from me casting them dies down."

"Good," Raven said with a sigh, "I only wish I had precautions like this when I was their age. It could have solved some heartaches before they even started."

"You did have precautions, Raven," Garfield said.

"They were shoddy at best that only activated after I did significant damage or most likely resulted in my demise." Raven said with a heavy heart, "After how Sesha took all of this we have to try to make sure she doesn't feel threatened."

"How has she been?" Zatanna asked, "One day she can't stop showing me how she could finally use lightning magic without an incantation and the next time I see her she can't even look at me."

"Little demon is a bi' of ah brat, ain't she?" A figure said in the corner, a small ember just above the owners chin barely casting light over the muddy blond stubble in the unnaturally dark corner.

"She has a temper, but she is not a brat," Garfield growled at the corner, "And can you please not be so loose tongued about that other part?"

"Loose tongued? Comin' from you?" The figure laughed.

"What if it came from me?" Raven said.

The ember burned bright as the figure inhaled sharply.

"I think it would be best if you went back in the house," Zatanna said.

The figure coughed and a small amount smoke burst from its mouth. It grumbled and stepped backward and did the motion of closing a door that wasn't there. There was a ripple of light and the figure disappeared.

Zatanna sighed and put a hand to her face.

"What did you ever see in him?" Raven asked.

"I ask myself that a lot," Zatanna answered.

Back in the arena Sesha walked to close some of the distance between herself and Static.

"The better question is are _you_ ready, Sparky?" she called to him when he landed on top of a mound of rock.

"How original," he jabbed back after he had floated a ways into the arena.

"That wasn't a yes, so I think I'm right when I say you aren't."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Because of Batboy's training style," she chuckled when she glanced over his shoulder to see Damian glare at her.

She hopped onto and walked along the top of one of the fake walls while her limbs elongated and became scaled, "He likes to pair us up when we challenge each other's styles. I've had trouble in the past with people who play it safe, use the environment and rarely directly engage with me. So it must be safe to assume the opposite from you, right? That you like to stay out of reach and use mind over brawn."

Virgil nodded slowly.

"Then you might want to know that I excel at direct engagement. Getting in my opponent's face and making them wish they had some nail clippers," she explained, flashing wicked looking claws that Virgil couldn't place from any animal.

Virgil suppressed a shudder at the razor tipped fingers, "What are you getting at?"

"That if you are ready," Sesha said as she crouched low on the wall, her talons clutching the stone, "You would be running."

She launched at Static, closing the distance with extended claws. Virgil paused and waited until Sesha was almost on top of him.

As she swung her claws down Virgil suddenly flew up on his disk, magnetically repelled from the metal making up the foundation of the arena. Sesha connected to the stone where Static had been floating and her claws dug in.

Before Static could blast her with an arc of electricity Sesha ripped her claws from the stone and the surface she was on a moment before was charred black. Her legs became the same as before with the triple joint and quills and she lept through the air. Again and again she tried to swat the boy off his disk but made no progress. Static fired away at her but she swatted the electricity aside, grunting and her arms spasming each time.

Sesha growled after a particularly vicious shock and pulled some quills from her thighs like they were knives and threw them at her quarry.

Surprised at the unorthodox use of her animal form he raised his disk as a shield and the quills stuck into the bottom, though most didn't gain purchase and fell. Due to its temporary shift in angle the disk no longer created enough magnetic push to lift Static and he fell. Sesha took her chance and leapt again, finally grabbing Static's mode of transportation.

However the moment Sesha grabbed it a sensation caused her hair, scales and quills to stand on end. The disk was pulled downward rapidly with her hanging under it and she slammed into the ground with the disk pressing her into the dirt. Sesha cried out at the impact but immediately started to wrestle with the disk to get up.

She looked up to see Static having stayed in the air by not letting himself get pulled down as well.

"Maybe you should stop to think," Static called down as he pulled a spare disk out of his pack. He barely lost any altitude in the process of unfolding it and starting to hover on the new disk, "I know a thing or two when it comes to brutes charging at me."

Sesha gave a strained chuckle, "Normally I wouldn't object to having a cute boy pinning me down, but the audience is a bit much."

"You never stop with the jokes do you?" Static said, starting to hover in her line of sight.

She looked up at him, "I gotta sleep sometimes."

As arcs of electricity sparked in his hands Static said, "That may be very soon."

Static fired the build up of electricity and Sesha screamed. Slowly through the electricity coursing through her, she lifted the disk off of her and stood up. The current continued until she stepped to the side and jerked the disk to let it snap to the floor beside her.

She was smoking from the volts with her head bowwed and wobbling slightly but she was still up. She grunted and clutched her arm. One of her quills that had managed to stay attached to the disk was subsequently rammed into her bicep as it pinned her.

Static stopped and stared wide eyed at her as she ripped it out without hesitation. Static turned away from the small burst of blood and after an odd mix of shifting her arm into different animals and what dismal blue aura she was able to conjure with the opposite hand she stopped the bleeding before it even became more than a trickle.

"That hurt," she said as she looked back up at him. Her claws crackled and came alive with her own arcs of logic defying black lightning. Her back exploded with plumage as wings sprouted and flapped. She leapt up and, again, made to strike in a blind charge.

Static flew backwards and fired more arcs of electricity. Sesha caught them and lowered a few feet in the air as it pushed her back. She yelled out in pain but flapped her wings harder, pushing against the attack.

Slowly she closed the distance between the two of them. The air was thick with their arcs of energy when they were finally within arms reach of each other.

"Electricity doesn't hurt me, so I don't know what you're getting at," Static said as the two of them exchanged a glare.

Sesha grunted through the pain to say a single word, "Ozone."

Static furrowed his brow in confusion, knowing of the production of O3 through electricity, but didn't think that it would create enough in such a short time to be of concern.

That is, until he looked over Sesha's shoulder and he saw the dark sphere surrounding them. He noticed that Sesha was actually only catching his attacks with one hand to instead take half the electricity willingly while pushing back with the other, still coated with her black variant. When Static realized the she was free to constrict the sphere in her other hand to contain the surrounding air he stopped generating his attack.

A look of panic came over Virgil's face and he pulled his legs up with with his disk. Sesha took the hand that was laced with her black lightning, now that she didn't need to clash with Static's, and kept the disk in place. She was correct in assuming he was going to push her away with it again when she felt it press into her palm against her own levitation.

He glanced around for an escape. Their power struggle had pushed him into a literal corner. He was between where the ceiling and wall met and Sesha. Static felt the O3 invading his lungs. He exhaled and held what little oxygen he had left.

Sesha shook her head with a cocky smirk, her eyes saying that she didn't like him holding his breath. She raised a leg, which looked like a cross between a horse and a kangaroo with the foot of a primate. The prehensile foot grabbed Static's shirt and kicked forward, slamming him into the wall behind him.

Stars burst into his vision and he was briefly aware of a shouting voice that wasn't Sesha's. When his vision cleared he was on the floor surrounded by Titans. He was vaguely aware of Cube scanning him and looked for Sesha, finding her sitting against the wall. Her head was bowed in what he hoped was exhaustion. Their spar was short but her direct approach forced him to pump a lot of volts out.

"Were you trying to suffocate him?!" Damian shouted down at her.

Sesha scoffed but didn't look up, "Don't get your tights in a twist."

Damian tutted at her but she continued, "I thought he would call my bluff. My shields are tissue paper compared to Dez and Conrad's so one spark would have broke it and had he continued to electrocute me I wouldn't have lasted."

Static groaned and sat up, "But I panicked and tried to break away instead and gave you an opening."

Sesha lifted her head enough to look at him and nod. She took a hand and clumsily attempted to pull herself up with one of the rails that ran the diameter of the room. She awkwardly waved off her siblings that tried to help her and walked over to Static with a visible slump in her step.

She reached down to help him up to his own feet, "Call it a draw?"

He took the offered hand and, with a small grunt of effort for both of them, hoisted Static to his feet. Sesha prolonged the hand contact and shifted the hold to shake hands.

"Good fight," she said with a smile, her ever present smirk missing.

Static nodded and returned the smile, "I'm surprised you actually tried something like that."

Willow chuckled off to the side, "Yeah, you made her use her head."

Sesha glared at her while Conrad added, "Not very many can do that."

Sesha took her hand away and grumbled, "Who's next to fight a newbie?"

Damian cleared his throat to cover his small smirk at Sesha's expense, "It appears having you two face each other did exactly what I wanted. As for who's fighting next. That would be Superboy taking on Wondergirl."

Jon and Cassie exchanged a glance and both flew into the clearing. Sesha, meanwhile, tried to keep her eyes open. She leaned against the wall and slid down onto the floor as Desiree came up to heal the puncture in her arm as well as the burns that covered both.

"I didn't even feel those," she said, barely able to look at her.

"Because you're a stubborn fool sometimes," Desiree said, giving her a meaningful look. "As much as you are a poor excuse of a healer."

Sesha dropped her gaze and sighed, "Sometimes I don't think a hothead like me deserves you guys."

"Then don't think," Desiree said, "You're our big sis. We wouldn't look after you so much if we didn't know you would do the same for all of us. We all now your anger is for us and to protect us."

Sesha chuckled, "Cause we know that's the best use for my temper. Yelling at and punching anyone that crosses you."

Desiree smiled and finished up healing Sesha's arms. Desiree kissed her sister's forehead and said, "That solves a lot of the problems we get in this kinda lifestyle."

Sesha smiled back and mumbled a thanks as Desiree stood up.

As darkness creeped on the corners of her vision Sesha was barely able to say, "If something cool happens, wake me up."

* * *

Ulrich pinched her nose and tugged on her hair, all the while Sesha remained completely asleep.

Vigil held in his chuckles, even though he had burst out laughing earlier when Willow had begun to peck the top of Sesha's head as a dopey looking bird she called a potoo and still failed to wake her.

"Shouldn't we just take her to the medbay?" Cassie asked from her seat near them, nursing some bruises curiosity of Jon.

"Probably not," Jon said, rubbing a few already fading bruises of his own from the spar, "If it was anything worth worrying about she would have already been taken there by her family. Plus, she said she wanted someone to wake her is something cool happened."

A hummingbird flitted around his head and became a girl that plopped onto his broad shoulders.

"Whadya think we've been trynta do?" Willow said, gesturing over Jon's head to her eldest sister, "Not just something but a lotta cool happened. Ethan even got a round in!"

Speedy scoffed, "And it turned into a boring game of hide and seek. Figures that the first round I get in, I go against someone who can hide from my echolocation."

Ethan shrugged, "Fighting with my fists isn't my forte."

"I gathered from you just waiting till I basically gave up looking and you got the drop on me," Speedy said.

Ethan smiled. "People who rely on their eyes and ears are easier to hide from. Makes it that much easier to get off a spell or two to win."

Speedy grumbled under his breath as he cradled the splintered remains of his bow.

"She's gonna be steamed that we couldn't wake her up," Willow continued, "And she's gonna miss Conrad and Iris' fight."

"Or lack thereof," Cassie said, look over to an open dirt portion of the sparring arena.

Iris and Conrad stood, staring unblinking at one another.

"Aren't we supposed to spar? Why are you just staring?" Iris called out to him.

Conrad didn't respond, but a translucent emerald cheetah walked into view beside him with a similarly constructed falcon riding atop it.

Iris giggled, "You know I'm a Flash right? Those animals are fast, but I'm faster!"

Conrad gave her a dismissive hum, "And did you know that magic usually doesn't adhere to preconceptions on how the world works?"

Iris cocked her head to the side, but her eyes widened when the animals turned into streaks of green and bolted right for her.

"Woah!" she cried as she dodged fangs and talons.

She dashed away, trying to outspeed the constructs, but like Conrad said, they didn't play along with the rules. They were fast, much faster than the animals they took the form of, and even if she was fast enough to stay out of their clutches, there were two of them.

She slid under the screeching falcon, her anti-friction suit saving her knees, to keep as much momentum as possible soas to keep ahead of the cheetah nipping on her heels.

Iris grunted and looked at Conrad. He stood unmoved from the center of the dirt arena. He hadn't even bothered to turn to face her.

Iris growled and bolted for him.

Without looking he dipped down and swung his leg out to trip her. She deftly jumped over it, used to the act of foes aiming for the legs of a Flash.

Now standing next to him she made to hit him with super speedy strikes. Unfortunately what he didn't dodge with dips and spins of his body, he blocked with constructs. They were made up of animals, ranging from small armadillos that floated in the air in front of her fists, to a wall that she could vaguely recognize as the armor of an ankylosaurus. Said dinosaur swung its clubbed tail out, forcing Iris to put distance between them.

Pulling her pigtails in frustration, she said, "Alright, no more miss nice Impulse."

She lowered herself to the ground into a runners start pose. Electricity gathered around her and she became a blur.

She burst forward with incredible speed and attacked. Just like before the constructs blocked her blows, only this time when she came into contact with them she grabbed them and her arms vibrated, shattering the constructs in her grasp.

Conrad's face scrunched up every time one of them broke to pieces.

With a flurry of wind swept dirt, she dashed around the arena, destroying any green construct she came across. Finally gaining the upper hand, she dashed at Conrad again. This time he actually leapt backwards to dodge her swing and in a blur turned into a gopher and dug into the ground.

"Oh come on!" Iris yelled in frustration.

She ran after the moving mound of dirt, trying to stomp on Conrad. She jabbed her hand into the dirt, pulling a green creature out of the earth.

"Gotcha!" she yelled.

The gopher in her hand tilted its head, its translucent eyes staring at her.

Iris' eyes widened. She scanned the area and saw several moving mounds of dirt.

Growling as her hands vibrated, she broke the construct apart.

She made a few circles chasing Conrad and his decoys around the arena, never succeeding in unearthing the real one, when he finally resurfaced and retook his place at the center of the clearing they were fighting in.

He barely touched down when he was already back to dodging Iris' strikes. Once again he only weaved away and blocked, his feet moving the most out of anything else he was doing.

He made Iris follow him around the entire perimeter of the dirt clearing before she grew impatient once again.

"Fight back!" she yelled as Conrad dipped one last time before he leapt away, once again to the center of the dirt field.

"I've been fighting back the whole time," he said locking eyes with her for what Iris realized was the first time during the fight, "You just can't see how."

From the observatory the adults looked down onto the spar.

"Impressive," Wonder Woman praised, "I don't even think he's looking down."

"He is a clever young man," Superman agreed.

Zatanna tapped a finger to her chin and studied the fight and pondered, "But can he pull it off?"

Iris growled and closed the distance between her and Conrad. Finally her fist connected and sent Conrad reeling backwards.

As he tumbled in the dirt, Iris raised her fists and let loose a shout of jubilation.

Conrad quickly raised a hand to his jaw, wiping a dribble of blood that started to flow. Immediately afterwards he took the bloody digit and pressed it onto one of the dirt lines he had dug as a gopher.

"Ah," Zatanna said back in the observatory, "Should have known he would use such a simple solution."

Iris looked around as a strange red glow started to permeate the area. She swung her head to look at Conrad who was already standing again.

"You're a Flash, right?" Conrad said, "You should know that you don't need to always fight with your fists."

Perplexed, Iris looked at his feet. She noticed an inhuman appendage on one of his toes. A raptor claw with a small clump of dirt stuck to the inside of its sharp tip.

She looked around the arena, taking in the glowing red lines in the dirt. It was a large circle that had a language she didn't recognize written around its diameter. Two interlaced triangles made of the lines Conrad had made while a gopher became a hexagram laid in the middle with a smaller circle with even more text and embellished lines within it.

And Iris stood in the center.

"Uh oh," she said.

She sprinted at Conrad only to smack into an invisible barrier at high speed. She groaned after falling backwards on her rump but was soon on her feet. Running around she beat onto the inside surface of the dome. When there was no progress, she looked under her feet at the markings.

Moving her legs like a scrubber at high speed she erased the dirt markings, only to reveal the red glow persisting where they once were.

Out of ideas, she groaned in aggravation and started to fruitlessly ram her shoulder into the barrier. After one particularly painful looking smack she flopped backwards with a yelp of pain.

She stayed on the ground, taking in her defeat.

"Do you yield?" Conrad asked.

She only nodded before the circles' red glow dissipated.

Conrad walked up to her side and held a hand out to her. Iris looked up at his impassive face and gave him a scowl.

"Did you really have to do all of that with such a bored look?" she asked him, still having not lifted a hand to meet his.

He raised a brow, "Did you think that I was doing anything less than concentrating my hardest on having my constructs keep up with you?"

Iris squinted, "But you acted so uninterested. I didn't even land a hit on you."

"You got plenty of hits," Conrad said as Iris finally took his hand.

"Only one you took intentionally," she looked at him with a look asking silently for confirmation.

"Maybe, but you dished a lot more than that one," Conrad said with a grimace.

When Iris looked at him curiously after dusting herself off, he sighed, "I'm not a Green Lantern. My constructs are extensions of my soul self. What I feel they feel, and vise versa."

Iris gasped, "So every time I shattered one of them?!"

"Yes," Conrad said simply, "I felt it."

In a blur of movement Iris had both his hands in hers, "I'm so sorry! Had I known I wouldn't have been so rough!"

Conrad carefully took his hands out of her grip and took hers to slowly lower them in a show of not needing her to apologize.

"You didn't know. I don't go around broadcasting my weaknesses," he said as he summoned his cloak back onto his shoulders and put his arms under it, hiding his body from view.

When her worried expression didn't dissipate he sighed, "I've taken worse from my sisters, and you gave them swift ends at least. I recover faster when they don't last long."

Her face persisted to look at him with tears threatening to fall, "Ends? I killed them?"

"No! No no no!" Conrad swiftly responded, "They're pieces of my soul. Fragments that return once used or broken. You can't destroy a soul by punching it so there is no permanence in what they go through, good or bad."

"Good?" she asked.

A glimmer appeared by Conrad's shoulder. Paws materialized as they padded over and leaped, the legs of the animal becoming visible.

By the time Iris extended her hands, she was catching a cat.

She looked back up at Conrad with a look of bewilderment. He was avoiding eye contact as he gestured to the apparition in her arms.

Iris giggled and scratched the emerald feline behind the ears. Conrad turned to leave the arena and he awkwardly scratched the same area that Iris' fingers grazed the cat's neck.

"That was awesome, dude!" Jamie said as Conrad rejoined the group on the edge of the arena.

Conrad shrugged, keeping his face indifferent and said, "Zatanna drilled the basics of seals and circles into me and Dez. I would be disappointed if I couldn't pull off a simple barrier circle."

"But with your foot!?" Virgil gushed, "You wrote Latin with your foot! With a toenail!"

"I basically wrote 'keep girl inside' over and over again. Nothing fancy," Conrad said, brushing it off, "Even so I kinda cheated using my own blood. Demon blood is a potent catalyst."

Suddenly Sesha was at his side with an arm over his shoulder.

"I see you woke up," Conrad said, yet was promptly ignored.

"What do I always say, bro?" she asked with an almost condescending tone.

He sighed before drawling out, "A mechanic that can be exploited isn't a cheat."

Someone cleared their throats and everyone turned to Robin.

"Now that we have seen the individual skill of our new Titans it now time to see their strength as a team," he announced.

"Really? I got a man down over here." Connor said holding up his bow string with mirrored splinters attached to each end.

"You can sit it out," Damian said, "I can compensate my plans with how many Titans are here."

Before Damian could get another word in a squeal of excitement came from Willow and she wrapped her arms around all of her siblings. A few of them squirmed in her squid like arms.

"You can't break the Pack," she said with a huge smile.

Robin crossed his arms, "It would be more beneficial to have you on separate-"

"You can not break the Pack!" Willow shouted with more force.

"What she means to say is," Conrad said as he pried himself from her grip, "out of all of us, Ethan has the most experience as a team member than anything else. Our team member. In order to fully display his ability he will need to be with someone he is comfortable with, ergo us."

Damian's face remained stone walled for a moment as he stared at Willow, who stared back in mock defiance with her bottom lip jutting out comically.

Superboy walked up beside him and spoke, "Family is what a Titan is about, Robin."

Robin grunted but turned to the other new Titans, "Beetle, Wonder Girl, Impulse and Static. You're with me and Superboy. The Logans will be our opponents."

"Come on, man!" Jaime said, "Ain't that a little stacked? They already have teamwork down, and even a team name!"

"And you have the sons of the strongest," Sesha said pointing at Jon, "and smartest," she swung her arm to point at Robin, "heros on the planet. Things are stacked, but not in our favor."

A faint sound of clacking mandibles came from Jamie. A moment later his blue armour was coating his body.

"Valid point," he said.

The two teams silently walked to opposite sides of the ring. As they stepped away from one another, the Logans turned their eyes to Ethan. He nodded and they felt their surface thoughts meld.

" _Okay, guys,"_ Ulrich thought to them, " _Sesha was right when she said that things aren't in our favor. Ethan, can you shield our presence from them?"_

" _Yes. What do you need exactly?"_

" _To make this a bunch of one on ones. If you can keep them from working together by making them focus on only one of us each then we can beat the weaker ones then focus fire on the stronger."_

" _My mind will be spread thin,"_ Ethan thought _, "I won't be able to do that for long."_

" _So will whoever goes against Jon,"_ Sesha thought, " _Which is why_ _I'll keep Superstud busy."_

" _Of course you will,"_ Desiree thought.

Sesha chuckled over the link, " _Just make sure your fights are fast. I'll only be able to take so much before he breaks me."_

The telepathic sounds of disgust were only broken by Willow's outward goofy laugh.

"Are you ready?" Robin asked, a slight twinge of what the Logans could sense was impatience lacing his tone.

The groups of young Titans faced each other, neither willing to make the first move.

"Titans! Go!" Robin shouted, rallying his team.

Sesha threw her head up and howled, and her siblings charged.

In the observatory Garfield threw an arm around his wife with childlike glee.

"She howled, Rae!" he stage whispered, then made a quiet howl of his own.

Raven rolled her eyes. When Garfield shook her shoulder with an expectant smile, she sighed.

"Owooo," she said to 'howl' weakly.

While the rest of the arena was filled with the other participants' fighting, Sesha and Jon slowly circled each other.

"So, Farm boy, you wanna go?" Sesha asked with shark like teeth.

Jon laughed nervously, "Well, we are the tanks. So we kinda fight by default, don't we?"

Sesha smirked and flexed her fingers, crossing her forearms over her chest and facing her palms towards each other. Black electricity crackled between her fingertips for a few moments before she ripped her hands away from one another. The sparks danced across her claws and she raised one hand to twitch her index and middle finger in a 'come and get it' motion.

"Let's dance," she said and they charged, although Jon got a word in before advancing.

"Dork."

They struck out at one another. Jon moved fast to keep her charged claws away and Sesha did all she could to get them to connect.

Jon knew that one hit would render him vulnerable and if he struck back she would bounce back with her strange physiology.

And probably make some remark about 'tapping that'.

Jon flinched at his own train of thought and Sesha got her opening. She sunk her claws into his shoulder, knowing that his skin would brush off the pointed ends.

The dark electricity they were laced with, however, had different plans.

Jon gritted his teeth as the volts coursed through him. His Kryptonian durability helped but he had no resistance to magic and he was thrown backwards. Sesha rushed forward to press what was likely to be her only advantage.

Jon quickly recovered, far quicker than Sesha had hoped, and his eyes glowed. Sesha cursed under her breath a beam blasted from his eyes straight at her.

Suddenly a barrier was erected in front of her. The burst of heat vision was deflected up and away, leaving a slightly shaken Sesha unharmed. She quickly glanced at Desiree, who had her arm raised in her direction while fending off Static.

" _Thanks_ ," Sesha thought to her. " _I suck at shields."_

" _We know,"_ A chorus responded.

To the side Iris was having a tough time hitting her opponent. She swung a kick but they just disappeared into another portal. With every appearance of a dark emerald swirl, she sped to it and attempted a strike but met air each time.

"Every time, Willow!" she shouted, "You're worse then your brother!"

"Thanks!" A voice behind her said with genuine gratitude.

Iris squealed as she was lifted off the ground by the back waist of her suit and released.

The moment she landed she threw a backhand at who stood behind her. The swing was easily dodged due to her opponent falling to the ground on her back.

Taking advantage of the over extension and poor form and her position on the ground, Willow kicked both feet up and into Iris' gut, launching her into the air. Willow morphed her legs into those of a kangaroo and began juggling Iris with her marsupial feet.

After a few rounds in the air, Iris grunting with every impact and launch against Willow's feet, Iris shouted, "You're way worse then your brother!"

Willow giggled alongside one more powerful launch. She readied her feet again but realized that Iris was coming down with what could only be described as a small ball of Speed Force in her vibrating hand.

She squeaked and dissolved into another portal that Iris fell into as well.

A few seconds later they both popped out skyward from the same spot, tousling the whole time.

They landed with dual grunts, pausing their fight a moment at the impact.

"I didn't mean to eject us that hard," Willow said as she raised her arms to block Iris' resumed strikes.

Above the dust they were kicking up, Static was launching bolts of electricity at Desiree. Static flew around on his deployed metal disc, hoping to find a hole in her defense.

All of it was rendered ineffective against her shields.

"You may be harder to hit," Static started, "But you are a lot less scary than Sesha."

"She grows on you," Desiree shrugged as another barrier stopped another bolt.

Static landed a ways away and placed his hands on the dirt. A charge sparked across the ground towards Desiree's feet, only for her to fly up and above the sparks.

"Not much of a threat when you don't have a connection," Desiree taunted.

"Then let's fix that," Virgil said.

Desiree felt an odd weight around her waist, like only small parts of her were getting heavy. She looked down and saw her belt and broaches getting tugged.

" _Not weight. Pull. He's magnetizing my stuff!"_ she thought with a start and tried to fly up. She only rose a few feet before she squeezed her eyes shut in concentration.

Desiree's eyes flew open. Not in fear, but in realization. No longer gaining altitude, she let her lips grow into a smirk that turned green.

She let the pull take her down, rapidly gaining velocity. Static ended the charge in surprise when Desiree turned into a falcon and curved her descent. Now parallel to the ground she became an armadillo to roll across the ground towards Static and an alarming rate. He only had time to try and gain some distance but when he flew Desiree was a mountain lion leaping up into the air after him. Virgil's jaw dropped just before he was within arms reach.

A very hairy and big arms reach.

His upper torso slammed into the green gorilla's arm, clotheslining him and sending him spinning.

He fell beside Wonder Girl and Ulrich, who had locked hands in a power struggle.

"You're strong. I can only think of my sisters and Superboy being the only Titans our age able to keep up with me with raw strength," Ulrich said, his dark violet aura growing under his furry arms and coalescing into claws on the tips of his fingers.

"The Patrons graced me. I can throw down with the best of em'," Cassie said.

Ulrich hummed in admiration, "You have your patrons. I have the Red."

The glow underneath his fur was slightly tinged with red. It was so subtle the only thing betraying the change was the contrast of color against his green hair.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" he shouted.

His fur stood on end and the aura underneath flared up. Cassie tried to disengage but his claws were much longer now and she would rip the back of her hands open if she tried to pull away. She could do nothing but strain herself against her suddenly much stronger foe.

Ulrich threw her left hand aside with his right and slugged her across the face. She reeled and Ulrich pulled her right arm in the direction of the momentum from his strike.

When he threw her aside he let a smirk come to his face, or he would have had a rope not tugged on his neck. He was jerked back to Wonder Girl by her glowing lasso. She had obviously taken his punch in stride with how she had recovered so effortlessly.

Ulrich cursed at his own cockiness as Cassie's fist connected to his chin.

He skidded in the dirt and came to rest a ways away from where Wonder Girl had striked.

"Ow," he said in a tone too simple for how much his body hurt.

A green ferret slinked over to him. It sniffed his chin and turned into a Labrador puppy. Ulrich groaned as the puppy licked his face and the pain dissipated.

"Thanks, Conrad," he said to the puppy.

It gave a small bark before disappearing, it's job done.

Cassie was giving him a weird look as he got back to his feet.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Conrad's healing spell," Ulrich answered as he scratched his face awkwardly, knowing what was coming.

"So he literally licks your boo boos better?" she said with a growing smile.

"Please," Ulrich implored, "Don't make it any more degrading than it already is."

Near the other side of the battle Conrad muttered, "You're welcome."

He raised an arm and took a beam of energy from Blue Beetle with a construct of pangolin scales.

"Man, all of you guys are like that one fighting game," Jamie said.

Conrad gave him a deadpan expression at the broad statement.

"I forgot the name! Its an old one!" he said with a shrug and fired more shots, "The one where all the characters can turn into animals."

" _Bloody Roar!"_ Sesha shouted in their heads to as she traded punches with Jon.

" _We have communicated like this with mom when she was in_ space _, and you're 10 yards away. Why are you yelling?"_ Ulrich asked.

" _You trade punches with one of the strongest Titans on the planet and see if you're not pumped enough to shout regardless!"_ Sesha retorted.

" _You want to trade a lot more then punches."_ Willow giggled, punctuating the thought with wet kissing noises that involved too much tongue then necessary.

Conrad fought to not roll his eyes as he watched Desiree almost let one of Static's bolts hit her as the crude joke made her falter. He then glanced back at Blue Beetle, "Bloody Roar?"

"Yeah! That one!" Jamie said as he fired another blast.

The battle around Damian was a fog. He swiveled on his heels, trying to clear his mind from the obvious intrusion whilst looking for the intruder.

Even with his extensive mental training he could feel his mind becoming a haze. He had quickly assessed the fight, learning immediately that any coordination that he had attempted was cast aside due to the haze, he deduced, also affecting his whole team.

What little sound he heard told him that the they were fighting individual one on ones. Not what he had planned. Sesha may have a made a point about them having him and Superboy, but divided the Logans would win the small battles and take them on after.

Damian slowly forced the fog back, no longer holding back against the youngest Logan.

He was done testing.

" _Hurry up, you guys. Robin is already beating me._ " Ethan called out to his siblings' minds.

Ethan casually walked through the battles, paying very little mind to the tousling teens and, by extension, projected his loose perception of the events surrounding him onto his siblings' foes.

Iris bumped into him, but payed no mind as she just went to immediately attack Willow again. He almost tripped on Cassie's lasso after it had been given slack by a missed throw, but the owner didn't even flinch when it resulted in tugging her arm.

He walked past Sesha, locked in a bear hug from behind by Jon.

"Give up, Sesha!" Jon yelled. He was shrugging off her black lightning, but it still looked to be a battle of attrition of his strength versus her magic.

"You'll have to try a lot harder to make me scream for mercy, Farm Boy," she said in an almost seductive tone through her struggling.

The grip around her loosened a fraction. Just as she expected in reaction to her flirting and what she needed to accommodate a shift. However she couldn't help but be surprised when his arms fully fell away.

She turned around and was confused by Jon clutching his head, but even more so by actually being able to see her youngest brother standing next to them.

"Ethan? Why can I see you? Aren't you-" Sesha started.

She cut herself off when she noticed the next concerning sight. All of the other combatants were also staring at Ethan.

Virgil scratched his head, "Did we forget this was a team spar?"

"Yes, you all did," Robin said, "And it was thanks to Placebo, but he now seems to be doing something to Superboy."

Jon's knees buckled and he clasped his hands to the sides of his head, yelling in pain.

Robin shouted, "And we need to stop him!"

The Logans sprang forward in an attempt to form a defencive perimeter around their youngest, but only Sesha made it before they all struck.

Robin drew his bo staff. Static fired a blast of lightning. Cassie charged with a fist extended. Jamie launched a salvo from the cannons on his arms. Iris sprinted to close the distance between her and Ethan.

A number of voids that Willow flicked into existence made to swallow Iris but it was side stepped each time as she anticipated it happening. Unfortunately it delayed her enough so by the time she got there a shield was around Ethan. It was courtesy of Ulrich, who pushed his palm in Iris' direction and away from his little brother. It resulted in Iris getting flung away by pulsing the shield forward with a wave of ebony magic.

Another shield was erected around Sesha and Ethan, this time from Desiree and Conrad. The lighting from Static hit it just before Cassie slammed her fist into it. The shield shattered and Desiree and Conrad flinched, stopping them in their attempt to regroup.

Robin leapt through the shards of the barrier, bo staff closing in on Ethan, who had yet to even twitch at any of his surroundings. Sesha caught Robin's bo staff and wasn't surprised when her black lightning didn't discharge into the metal. A few symbols on the rod glowed and her magic remained coated on her claws.

Then Blue Beetle's salvo burst and Ethan screamed.

The Logans clenched their teeth. Sesha's fangs grew half an inch inside her scowl at the sound alone. Whatever magic collected in Desiree's hands became a blue aura on reflex. Ulrich cursed at himself not doing more to protect his brother. Willow's arms became slack and her claws grazed the ground as they stretched awkwardly. Conrad became stalk still as a pentaceratops head manifested around him and he floated between his siblings and their opponents.

Ethan all but collapsed into the dirt, hand hovering over his badly burned shoulder. His siblings were at his side within seconds, Desiree checking his wound while the rest finally regrouped in a perimeter around him. Sesha in particular was staring at Jamie with fire in her eyes and a raising crackling coming from her hands.

The insectoid sound came from him again and he raised his hands, or his cannons, in defence, "The bug put in more juice than I wanted! I didn't know that he-!"

He was interrupted by a lance of black lightning striking one of his cannons, making it burst apart. Jamie cried out and was flung back to the ground by the blast.

He shook his head and looked back up to see Sesha brushing past her siblings' defensive line to check on Ethan. Before he could get back up to join Robin and the rest of the new Titans, a cloaked figure walked by him.

"This spar is over," Raven said in a tone that gave no ground to argue.

Damian always ignored that kind of tone, "This will be my team. The League is only here for ceremony. The exercise is over when I say."

"My son has burns that need attending to. Besides, they lost their only advantage. They know they lost," she retorted, only sparing him a glance as she walked by him.

Jon's head was finally clear and when his vision came into focus the first thing he saw was the Logans comforting and healing Ethan's shoulder. He winced at the burned flesh, thankful that Ethan could call such a powerful group of healers family, or else there would have been a lot of scarring.

He tentatively walked forward, hoping to provide some comfort himself to the agonized look on Ethan's face.

Before he even walked three steps, Ethan snapped his head up at him with his eyes blazing red.

"Stay away from me!" he roared with a voice that almost sounded too big for his small frame.

Jon froze. A docile reaction compared to almost everyone else jumping and taking a step back. The Logans, however, moved forward instead after recovering from the shock.

Robin narrowed his eyes at the scene.

Sesha gave Jon a small stopping gesture with her hand that Ethan wasn't clutching like a vice with his own. Jon stood back as Raven joined Conrad and Desiree in healing Ethan.

* * *

I wanted to get this one and possibly the next one out fast because it will be the status quo set and I can get into the true meat of my ideas. The further I go into what I pre-wrote the less I had to refine so we will see. I also want to go back and fix the tremendous amount of typos and errors that mar the first few chapters. A review will be appreciated and all that! Hopefully Ill see you again soon!


	6. Uncertainty

This chapter is shorter then the rest cause its more an exposition dump than anything else. Now that this is out I can get a rhythm with this being my last pre written chapter and that I'll be on a legitimate schedule. Now that I have a taste for writing as I update I'm more confidant in my ability to write faster. I'll see you all soon.

* * *

"What was that?" Iris asked the Titans scattered about the common room.

The Tower was tense from the abrupt end of the spar and subsequent departure of the Justice League. There were goodbyes and other such farewells to the Titans from the older heroes, but they felt like a blur under the tension that Ethan's surprising outburst created. Only a few of the members stayed behind, Superman and Logans, who wanted to make sure their sons were in stable condition after the end of the fight. Cyborg stayed as well, following Ethan and his parents to check on him and leaving shortly after.

After they had confirmed no ill effects on Jon and Ethan, Raven had left after to follow the other League members to the Watchtower.

"I don't know," Willow said solemnly.

"He's your brother. Shouldn't you guys be experts on the weird stuff you guys do?" Jamie said.

Sesha clenched the armrest of the chair she sat in and glared at him. "Not when the 'weird stuff' is new," she answered as level as possible with her flaring nostrils.

"Sorry!" Jamie said with his hands up again.

Jon walked between them, "What matters is that we're all okay now. Ethan is healed."

Sesha turned her glare to him, "Don't you get it? It's far from okay. He was the most normal out of all of us. Regular skin and hair, powers that didn't come with a side effect," she bared her green arms at him and her eyes flashed red, "Now that he showed off that he has demonic powers too or whatever it was he did to you he's going to have a target on his back."

"Target?" Jon asked, "No one that was in the room when it happened is out to kill him, Sesha."

She waved an arm in front of her in a aggressively dismissive motion, "Not what I mean."

"I know what you're getting at, Sesh," Ulrich said with a sigh.

"You do?" Connor asked, crossing his arms, "Cause I think the rest of us are in the dark."

Sesha's glare remained level on Jon. However, it melted and she turned away. With a deft leap, she was out of her chair and landing on one of the walkways leading to the living quarters.

"I need to be alone for a bit," Sesha said before the automatic door opened with a hiss.

Willow groaned and started to munch on a candy bar no one had seen her procure. Desiree nudged her and jerked her head in the direction Sesha left. They both in unison got up to follow her.

"Didn't she say she wanted to be alone?" Cassie said as they levitated up the walkway.

"She did," Desiree said, not halting her advance, "But Logans don't do alone."

Ulrich sighed and got up to follow as well, "She has it in her head that the Justice League is going to put us in chains us because of our legacy. Or worse."

No one noticed Damian flick his eyes up under his mask from the tablet in his hands and away from a replay of the end of the last spar.

"My dad said that the last threat from Raven's dad was before almost everyone here was born," Iris said, "Why is that still on anyone's mind?"

"Because it's in our blood. We may hate our connection to Trigon, but he will always be our grandfather. We'll always have a potential for darkness that can be exploited," Conrad said as he got up.

Iris looked like she wanted to say something more but no words came. The two remaining Logans left the room after Sesha.

Damian tucked the tablet into his belt and kicked off where he was leaning on the wall, "He isn't wrong to fear his lineage."

"Not now Robin. The last thing they need is one of Grandpa's contingencies," Mar'i said.

"I'm not saying it as Robin, Nightstar. I'm saying is as someone who also doesn't want to be his grandfather," Damian turned his head to Jon before he continued, "Someone who was given the opportunity to prove himself despite his ability to do terrible things."

Jon's mind turned to the first time he had ever used his heat vision. He was ten and had accidentally burned his mother's cat to ash when he was trying to save her from a hawk.

Mar'i was almost caught off guard by the confession but she was used to the bearing of one's soul that seemed to come with being a Titan. Even from her adoptive uncle.

"Where are my siblings?" Ethan asked.

Almost all of the teens in the room jumped. They all whipped their heads to the doors that were just sliding shut behind Garfield and Ethan.

Damian, one of the few Titans not startled by their entrance, answered, "They all left to bug Sesha when she wanted to be left alone. You Logans don't seem to understand that word."

Ethan nodded with a small smile, "We got it from our dad. Our mom says that it's his most annoying and endearing quality."

Garfield chuckled and put a hand on his back to coax him forward, "I wish I had time to say bye to everyone, but I need to join your mom on the Watchtower."

Ethan nodded and hugged his father before heading towards the living quarters but he hesitated as he passed Jon. He turned to him and spoke with a small voice, "I'm sorry for what I did to you. I don't know what came over me and I don't even know what I did, but I'll try to not do it in the future."

Jon leaned forward to Ethan's height and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "I know you didn't mean for whatever that was to happen," he gave an exasperated smile and shrugged, "Plus, I'm used to Logan's giving me a headache."

"May Azar have mercy on you," Ethan chuckled and continued walking to join his siblings.

As he left the room Damian turned to Jon, "Remember what I said."

Jon looked at him with a confused brow arc, but was prevented being asked any questions when his father walked into the room.

"Jon. We would like a word." The Man of Steel said as he stood next to Garfield.

* * *

"What was that?" Flash asked his few fellow Leaguers present standing in the dimly lit presentation room. The little light that filtered in from the window only came from the stars. The nearest star, Sol, was blocked by the Earth as the Watchtower orbited.

Wonder Woman pursed her lips. Cyborg was nervously rubbing the back of his head.

"Those eyes were nothin I didn't also see from my sis back in our Teen Titans days. Nothin to worry about," Cyborg said, sounding like he was trying to convince himself.

"But it seemed different," Wally mumbled.

In the room were a number of the Justice League, including some of the more magically inclined members.

"We had suspicions that something like this would happen. It was a matter of time," Zatanna said, "No matter how much we hoped otherwise,"

"I would like to reaffirm my concern with letting them run free without proper precautions in case of rampant," Dr. Fate paused to select his next word, "outbreaks,"

Batman said nothing as he swiped his fingers over the holographic panels and he pulled up an image of the spar that had taken place only two hours prior. Ethan's visage came to dominate the meeting room monitor, his eyes a scorching red.

"The blood of Trigon in their veins will always be strong," Etrigan said in his guttural voice, "Their mother runs a fool's errand to not steer them wrong,"

A figure in the corner chuckled slightly as he fiddled with a lighter, briefly illuminating the dark corner each time he ignited it, "Says the demon that shares the same family tree,"

Etrigan narrowed his eyes at him and in a burst of fire a man in a brown dress coat stood in his place.

"You know he hates family talk," The man said.

"Ahh, he'll get over it," Constantine said as he took a small package out of his coat and retrieved a small stick, "It's not like anything I do will get me off your shit list. Etrigan or Jason Blood's. Hard to tell where one ends and the other begins."

"The amount of beings who share the same sentiment are much greater in number than the beings occupying his, as you say, shit list," Jason said.

Constantine shrugged and put the cigarette between his lips.

"For the last time, Constantine. No smoking in the Watchtower," Cyborg said.

"Relax lad. I ain't gonna light it," he said, "I need a' least some comfort with the gasket the little bird is gonna blow. She ain't gonna be happy we're flappen our gums about the little imps when she ain't even here yet."

"I hate to agree with him, but he is right," Raven said from the doorway. The lack of light made her pupils look like they were smoldering, "Though I don't much care for his pronouns."

Constantine made himself look busy with his lighter, a useless facade under Raven's glower.

"We were waiting for you Rae," Cyborg said, "It was idle chat at most."

Raven's eyes softened and she nodded.

"These are necessary evaluations, Raven," Batman said, "For everyone's protection."

Raven blew a small breath out of her nose, "I know. I wouldn't have agreed to putting my children under a microscope, otherwise."

"Let's get it over with then," Cyborg said.

He fiddled with some of his on-body interfaces, then swiped whatever he had pulled up through the air and they were suddenly being displayed next to the freeze frame of Ethan, "After the spar, I had taken blood tests to see if there were any changes and with the help of Doctor Mid-Nite, cross referenced them with Raven's like we've been doin'."

On the screen was a double helix with a small profile of a smiling Ethan next to it. Directly next to it was another, with Raven's stoic face next to it instead. After a moment Raven's helix lit up like a christmas tree with red dots, while Ethan's had a few meager red specks up and down his helix.

"This is a sample from a few months ago when they came in for a checkup at the tower," Cyborg said. Then he pressed another key on his arm.

An identical helix popped up and replaced Ethan's, only this one had several new clusters of red dots sprinkled throughout.

"This is the latest sample."

Constantine muttered curse, "So are you gonna throw some science mumbo jumbo at us or somethin?"

"Genetics to be specific, obviously," Cyborg said, "Mutated genes. Some of the genes in his code have been altered to more closely resemble Raven's."

"Or to resemble a demon's," Raven said quietly.

Cyborg did the swiping motion yet again. This time a third helix popped up with Garfield's exuberantly smiling face in the corner. His lit up with green dots instead of Raven's red.

"I find the choice of color a bit misleading," Constantine mumbled under his breath.

Next, Ethan's strand lit up again, only it flashed in a concerning pattern. There was not a single red or green speck unaccompanied by the other.

"I probably wouldn't have been able to trace it so easily had it not been for Garfield's wonky shape shifting genetic signature. These changes are most likely possible thanks to his malleable genetics."

Constantine said as he dug his hands into his trench coat, "Are they gonna keep maken these changes?"

"It can be assumed, yes," Cyborg said, "But the pattern is new and I've only seen this before in Desiree on such a scale. Knowing their father, they could probably do it at will once they master their shapeshifting."

"So they can do it with just a thought," Constantine said as he put a hand to his face, "They might as well flip through any demonology book like it was a sodding shopping catalog."

"Desiree," Raven said in hushed fascination, "This is how she flips between Garfield and my sets of powers. Ethan once said that it hurt to try and do the same thing as her, so they actually have some idea of being able to do this."

"All the more reason to put them somewhere where they can't hurt anyone around them or themselves," Dr. Fate said, "We can't coddle them and expect them to not stumble into a power that will overtake them."

Cyborg looked at the screen again, "I did say assume earlier. This is the first sample we got any solid information from, so we can't throw the book at 'em if this pattern doesn't keep up. Especially if it hurts them to try and step out of the bounds of their current abilities."

Dr. Fate crossed his arms and settled a stare on Raven. "We are treading a thin line here. One that could endanger a lot of lives."

"It's a line that we all walk," Wonder Woman said, "Even members of the Justice League are fallible and need to be pulled back from the other side in harrowing times."

"So what do we do?" Flash asked.

"We do as we have done. Guide them through what powers they express and don't punish them for powers they don't," Raven said, "We will only create animosity and drive them away if we try anything unnecessary. Sesha's recent behavior only proves that."

"And protecting those that surround them isn't necessary?" Dr. Fate asked.

"Jumping the gun and thinking them dangerous when they have been able to wield what powers they do have with relative ease isn't necessary," Raven shot back.

As she said this another figure appeared.

Garfield paused in the doorway to look at the image of Ethan during the spar and the display of his genetics. Superman walked in behind him with his son.

Garfield walked over to his wife, "I didn't see them much after the spar and heading here but from what I could tell they're still shaken that Ethan went all demon eyes. He's never done that."

"Still hasn't then," Constantine said.

Everyone looked at him and before any of them could question him he gestured at Jon.

"But he could shed some light on that."

Jon's eyes widened at being put on the spot when he was in the room for less than ten seconds. Jon looked around at all the members scattered about the room. Then his eyes landed on the screen with a freeze frame of Ethan, his head reared and eyes burning. He could see his own shoulder in the bottom right of the corner thanks to the angle of whatever camera had taken the footage.

Jon remembered what has transpired before he left through the boom tube to the Watchtower.

 _"She has it in her head that the Justice League is going to put us in chains us because of our legacy. Or worse."_

 _"We'll always be a liability if that can be exploited."_

"Tell us what happened there, lad," Constantine said.

Jon slowly looked around the room again as Sesha's words rang through his head.

 _"It's far from okay . . . going to have a target on his back."_

"Do you think that they're," he hesitated to glance at Ethan's burning eyes, "dangerous? I don't want my word to be put against them,"

"We're here to discuss if they need greater methods of control for their growing power," Raven explained.

"Without their knowledge?" Jon retorted.

Raven sighed, "Right now they have great wells of power within them. Ones we don't quite understand, and if they were to know just how much potential they have they might dive headfirst. We need to guide them when the abilities surface naturally, lest they lose themselves in them,"

Jon chuckled, "I can see Sesha and Willow racing each other to be the strongest, and the others being forced to keep up," his smile fell, "But you didn't answer if you thought they are a threat or not."

Garfield grimaced, "They're no more a threat then Rae or I, but I have unpredictable powers and Rae's are volatile. Unpredictable plus volatile is something we need to be careful with. We have to make sure that nothing that endangers themselves or anyone around them pops up."

"Which is why we suggested you-" Constantine started.

"To shut your mouth and not finish that sentence," Raven finished for him. Constantine snapped his jaw up and fiddled with his lighter again.

Jon lowered his head, "I don't like putting them in a box. They have too much to fear within themselves to fear what everyone might do to them for something their fighting on the inside. I want to make sure they know someone is with them who also struggled with learning about his powers."

Superman had a knowing and proud smile on his face as Raven said, "I knew you would understand."

Jon chuckled, "You can thank Damian. He told me something that made it a whole lot easier to get me to help," he turned to Batman, "He knows about this, right?"

The Dark Knight nodded.

"You can tell us what happened now, Jon," Superman coaxed.

"Right! Right," Jon said sheepishly looking at his father.

"Please," Constantine muttered, though Clark still caught it and gave him a stern look.

Jon took a calming breath, "It started out like any spar with Sesha. Thanks to Ethan it was like I was locked on to Sesha and the rest of the fight didn't exist," Jon flicked his eyes at Raven and Garfield after pausing, "And like any other spar with Sesha, she . . . taunted me."

"Can you skip your flirtin' and get to the end part," Constantine said, jerking his thumb at the screen.

Jon blushed as Zatanna shot Constantine a incredulous look and mumbled, "Piz sih spil."

Constantine's eyes bugged open and he ripped the cigarette from his mouth.

Everyone looked at him and he tried to offer a smile, but it was pursed, awkward and strained. Even by Constantine standards.

"Keep going," Raven said after the awkward silence.

"After Ethan's attack on my senses I looked up to see all of them crowding him. At the time I didn't know how he got those nasty burns, but I wanted to help somehow. That's when that happened," Jon finished by pointing at the image on the screen, turning everyone's attention to it.

"Do you remember anything else noteworthy?" Batman asked.

Jon paused and looked like he was going over the fight in his head again, "When he yelled at me, my eyes ached a little, but that's all I can think of,"

Batman returned to the screen and pressed a few more buttons.

Constantine narrowed his eyes and wrinkled his lips in thought. He nudged Zatanna with his elbow and when he had her attention, jabbed a finger at his mouth.

"Wait," Jason told Zatanna with a smile after he noticed Constantine's silent plight, "I'm enjoying this,"

"We all are," Raven added while her husband snickered next to her.

Constantine gave them a look that he wasn't fooling around and gestured to the image of Ethan.

"He actually wants to say something, Zatanna. Let him go," Superman said.

Zatanna pinched her index finger and thumb together and pulled them to the side.

Constantine's jaw went slack and he massaged it for a moment then pointed at the screen, "Those aren't his grandpappy's eyes."

Raven bristled at the romanticizing of Trigon's relation to them but hesitated in whatever biting retort she was going to say, instead opting to continue the conversation.

"How do you know?" she said.

Constantine was unaware or uncaring of the small slight he caused and said, "I sensed it. The difference was small, so it does have something to do with his demonic nature. I just needed super lad to confirm what it really was."

"Wait, you were there?" Jon asked.

"He's right," Batman said, brushing past Jon's question. He pulled up an image of Jon about to fire his heat vision from the same battle. Their eyes looked similar in how they burned.

"Ohhhh," Jon said in a small realization.

Batman pressed a button and the image changed to a thermal reading of the two boys. Their eyes looked even more alike with the differences vanishing under the yellows and almost white hues indicating how hot their irises were.

"He can take other people's powers," Constantine said.

"How can he do that? Rae's never done anything like that," Garfield sputtered.

"Demons aren't known for passing abilities. Sometimes they just pop up in accordance to their inner nature. Then again we don't have many demons lining up to take surveys," Constantine said, shrugging. Raven had to suppress a groan at the similar phrase used by her son months ago and Constantine continued, "The curious thing is that I don't think he even knows what he did."

"He doesn't, but he did apologize to me for it. Do we tell him about what he did?" Jon said.

"That's what we have Damian for," Batman said, "He can take our findings and train them accordingly."

"Lad does something odd and gets a meeting of the most powerful tights and capes together and he says 'sorry'," Constantine said with a wry chuckle.

Jon couldn't help but think that that statement included him, "So I take it that I'm already cleared to be a part of these meetings from now on?" Jon said with a determined look, "Damian wouldn't have told you all I was trustworthy enough to even be here if I wasn't, right?"

Batman actually smirked at that one. It was microscopic but Jon didn't hang out with his son for ten years and never figure out how to spot it.

"Yes," Garfield said, "We wanted you to help us for a while, seeing your friendship with Sesha."

Jon blushed again, "Abusing that is something I'm worried about."

"Even doing all of this is testing their trust," Raven said, "Sesha was adamant about not wanting to be treated like this, but it's necessary."

"Necessary, indeed," Batman said, "You and Damian will be our contact inside the Titans."

Jon nodded, a confliction of emotions settling in his chest.


	7. The Challenge

I really wish i could have gotten this out sooner but life decided to hit me like a truck full of bricks. It kicked me between the legs and even after it seemed to apologize for putting me in the dirt I just didn't feel like getting up for a while. Even after a mild existential crisis I was able to write a little bit. This led to a double jeopardy of not wanting to upload with the actual ability to write. So now I have a big chapter that isnt all I wanted to upload. Kinda like most of what Ive uploaded so far.

Fun fact the first 4 chapters were supposed to be one.

Either way I wanted to get out of this slump by doing what i did when i first hit one. Upload a chapter. So here ya go!

* * *

"That was awesome!" Willow cried as a few of the Titan girls returned to the common room from a shopping trip turned bank robbery.

"That was boring," Sesha pouted, "The first bust in almost a week and I didn't even throw a punch."

"Cause we were awesome enough to not need to," Iris said, "Willow and Desiree ported the hostages and I grabbed the guns."

"Meanwhile, Sesha just stands there, intimidating them with the sheer disappointment of not having a reason to hit them anymore," Cassie laughed.

"I almost feel bad for the baddies sometimes. Poor saps didn't know we were across the street shopping," Desiree said, "Pretty much ran into us."

"Conrad!" Iris shouted as she sped to the couch, "You said you would grind while we were out!"

Conrad was jerked awake by the shout, the controller on his lap flying off. He looked at the screen to see it black with "Game Over" emblazoned across the middle in red. "Continue" and "Main Menu" buttons were waiting to be selected.

"Sorry. Repeatedly killing the same enemies puts me to sleep," he said with a yawn.

"Yet you EV train your Pokémon all the time," Iris shot back.

"Hey. Just because you can't appreciate turn based strategy game play doesn't make Pokémon boring," Conrad retorted.

"But it's slow!" Iris whined.

"Just get your controller," Conrad said after staring at her blankly for a moment.

Damian chose that moment to walk in, Nightstar at his side.

"We got the alarm, but you all handled it pretty effortlessly. Nice clean takedown, girls," Mar'i said.

"Where was Superboy during that robbery?" Damian said.

The doors from the hangar opened, a tower of boxes and bags standing in the center with a pair of jean wearing legs poking out from under. It shifted from side to side, trying to find an angle to fit through.

As it teetered and threatened to fall, Jon's voice called from behind it, "They all left me with this monstrosity!"

The girls responsible laughed at the scene and quickly took their purchases from the pile in his arms until he had nothing left.

Connor chuckled at his plight from the chair he was sitting in, stopping his bow tending for a moment, and said, "You offered to go. You doomed yourself."

"You can bench press this tower," Sesha said, "No complaining."

"I still had to balance it. And over half of you can levitate _and or_ bench press this tower too," Jon said, then gestured to Willow, "Why didn't she just put it all in her pocket thing?"

Willow looked over at him and said, "I just picked out a game with Sesh."

Said game fell out of a small void and into her hand.

"None of that was mine so I ain't gonna dedicate brain power to make sure it all stays intact in there," she said.

As Cassie watched Willow lick a thumb and rub what appeared to be jam off the game case she subconsciously clutched the clothing store bags in her hands tighter and said, "Plus, she puts food in there. Messy food most of the time."

Willow stuck her tongue out at her.

Desiree plopped onto the couch next to her twin and looked at her brother and Iris.

"Can I get in?" she said with a slightly begging tone.

Iris gave her a look and said, "All of the characters you use jumped up 20 levels since _yesterday_. Did you even sleep last night?"

Desiree only weakly chuckled.

Damian did his signature scoff and walked over to her, "Sleep is needed to keep our minds and bodies sharp, Eclipse."

Desiree almost rolled her eyes, "Sure, mister power nap."

"I trained my body to operate on less sleep," Damian retorted.

"And demons don't need a lot of sleep. Not to mention all of the clashing sleeping patterns of the animals we have running around inside us," Sesha said, coming to her sister's aid.

Damian kept a hard stare on Sesha at the back talk but when his communicator chirped he spun around and walked towards the hallway.

"I'll be back later," He said curtly as he pressed the elevator button before the common room doors closed behind him.

The rest of the Titans shrugged it off, used to their leader disappearing for investigations at the drop of a bat.

Willow giggled at the pun she made in her head.

"Hey, Desiree," Cassie asked, "I've been wondering."

Desiree turned her attention away from the game being played by her brother and the resident speedster to look at the young Wonder. She turned green and her pointed ears swiveled in Cassie's direction.

Taking the cue to continue, Cassie said, "Was it really you overhearing that whole moon thing that made your name?"

Desiree blushed and sank into her cushion.

"Not really." she shrugged, "It's more that it was the only thing that made sense. Do I call myself 'Swap'? 'Switch'?"

"Nintendo might not like that," Willow chuckled.

Desiree laughed softly herself before continuing, "I have a drastic difference between what I can do with each so to try and make a name that fits both is impossible. Then one day I'm meditating a few days after hearing what I mentioned and I thought on it. I either block the 'sun'."

She paused to raise her arms as her skin became ashy white. Her mother's signature dark colored magic pooled on her outstretched palms as she continued, "And I become darkness. Or I could block the 'moon'."

Her skin became green again and after a look of concentration a red aura became claws over her fingers.

She spoke again, "And I become red."

"I saw Ulrich do something like that," Cassie said, looking at the claws, "What is it?"

"The Red. The animalistic force that connects all life on some level. Zatanna isn't our only teacher. We got a few tips from Vixen and Animal Man," Desiree said.

Iris, without looking away from the screen she was dicing enemies on, asked her gaming partner, "Can your stuff be red too?"

Conrad gave a small affirmative hum and spoke, "Just easier to throw it out and it seems to default as green. Magic is weird like that sometimes."

The communicators on the gaming pair's belts chirped and Robin's voice spoke, "You better save. I'm coming back."

"Jeez! Already!?" Iris whined, "Barely got a level in."

"Must have just been an update." Conrad said.

Knowing that when the common room monitor is needed by Robin it's serious business, the pair scrambled through the start screen to the main menu where the auto save function kicked in.

Robin strode into the room and briskly walked between the bags that the girls had put on the floor by the couches and chairs so they could sit.

He hovered over the command console but hesitated. Only when the auto save completed did he press the button to override the system.

"Aww," Iris cooed, "He does care."

He didn't acknowledge the statement as he typed a few keystrokes and pulled up a camera where the danger room was visible. Ulrich and Ethan were settled in the field portion of the arena, sitting facing each other in lotus positions.

"Hybrid, Placebo. I need you in the common room," Robin said curtly.

Ulrich opened his eyes and levitated onto his feet. He scanned to locate which camera had the LED indicator that is was being used at spoke to it.

"There hasn't even been a hint of him taking any of my powers, Robin," He said, but quickly gathered that a progress report isn't why they were interrupted, "I take it this is important?"

"Yes," Robin said, "Be quick."

Ethan had barely pushed himself up before the LED darkened. He shook his head and looked at his hands. They looked as they did this morning. Completely normal.

"Don't think too much on it," Ulrich reassured him. "Once you figure out how you did it you'll most likely be one of the strongest Titans in this tower."

"Until then I'll be one of the weakest," Ethan said with a sourness in his tone.

Ulrich sighed and put a hand on his brother's shoulder, "Don't think like that. You have a powerful tool that has the potential to help us in ways we can barely imagine. That's _not_ counting this thing were you sap other people's abilities."

Ethan looked up at him and smiled. Ulrich returned it and lifted his arm off of Ethan to start a teleport. While he closed his eyes in concentration he didn't notice the smile fall off of Ethan's face.

* * *

"Titans Tower West calling Watchtower. Do you read?" Damien said. "Watchtower, come in."

The screen fizzled and a green figure popped up. An alien figure.

"We read you, Titans West," J'onn J'onzz, or Martian Manhunter, responded, "To what does the Justice League owe the occasion, Robin? You rarely make calls out of the Titan circle."

"I need to speak to Raven and Beast," Damian said, "It's urgent and calling the more formal way is faster than bypassing the Watchtowers security directly to their communicators."

"That is what they are for, yes." J'onn said. There was a beat of silence as he stared at Robin, various Watchtower staff in the background pausing their work to make passing glances at the rarity of the Son of the Bat using a more common form of communication.

"They had mentioned going to the mess hall after the had just returned from a mission," J'onn explained, "I'll hail them and they will answer when they are able."

The screen went blank just as Ulrich and Ethan phased up from the floor.

"Did you make a whole thing out of calling our parents?" Sesha asked, laughing, "Why are you setting up a family chat?"

"I'm calling them because what I found concerns them and all of you," Robin said, not turning from the screen.

The screen came back to life with Raven and Garfield sitting in what was easy to assume was their Watchtower abode. The spartan steel was barely decorated with the telltale flair of its occupants due to them hardly lingering there longer than necessary. The two were still in their hero attire however Raven's cloak was hanging on one of the bedposts behind them.

"What do you need us for, Robin?" Raven answered, knowing he will want to go straight to the point.

"I made a concerning discovery regarding a foe of yours," Robin explained, "Based on what I found it needs to be brought to your entire family's attention."

Sufficiently intrigued, the Logans on both sides of the call leaned in slightly.

"You apprehended Adonis a few weeks back, just before you took residence here," Robin said, looking behind him at the younger Logans, "He was given a few assault charges and one for endangering the public as well. Earlier today his bail was posted."

"That asshole is out again, already?" Sesha growled.

"He is," Robin said, "but the more concerning part is when I looked into who posted his bail. It was a bondsman from a shell company but I was able to find a name."

He clutched the edges of the command console.

"The Church of Blood."

Raven clutched her husband's arm in response and said, "What? They haven't been active for almost two decades. Why now? Why Adonis?"

"That's the worst part. Why?" Robin said, "It was too easy to find who and that could mean that-"

"They want us to know," Garfield said, his voice low and threatening, "To know that they're coming for us."

"By using Adonis?" Willow scoffed as she peeled a wrapper off a candy bar, "Why should we worry about him? Not like him with some knowledge about us from that church would be-"

"Willow," Raven gently interrupted, "This is the group that has, on multiple occasions, threatened the Titan's lives and at one point stripped me of my free will. Adonis may be a joke but the Church of Blood isn't."

Willow's face drained of as much color was left from her minty hue and she started to fumble with the wrapper.

"Oh Azar," Willow crumbled onto the couch, quickly chewing on the bar.

Desiree rubbed circles on her back and looked at Robin, "So the church that worships Trigon and has effective tools against us is backing one of the villains that has a bone to pick with us. What do we do?"

"For now we keep a lookout for Adonis," Robin said, "And hope that Adonis is the only one they have in their pocket."

Willow groaned.

"How long ago did he get released?" Sesha demanded as she walked up to Damian.

"He was released from Jump City Prison about two hours ago," he explained, "I had scouted it and he left in a custom red exotic sports car. Plates said it was already his. It's safe to assume that it's his new suit made and given to him by the church."

"His last one didn't last ten minutes," Sesha said.

Raven leaned into the screen and nearly shouted, "No! We don't know what kind of enhancements the church gave him or if this is just a trap to lure you somewhere! If they wanted us to know than they might want us to follow!"

"We let him go underground and we'll have a cold lead on a group that obviously wants to fuck with us," Sesha said and turned towards the hanger, brushing by her siblings, "No information is worse than intentionally springing a trap."

"Azar, she's right," Ulrich said and got up as well, "Let's go, Conrad."

" _Just_ Conrad?" Desiree asked, "I'm not staying behind to let you take him on without all of us."

"You should," Ulrich said sternly, "The three of us are the most experienced and the most adept at facing criminals that have precautions against us. So only we are going."

"I have spells and shape shifting!" Desiree objected.

"Maybe," Sesha said regretfully, "but Willow needs you."

Desiree slumped and sat back down to hug her twin, who was taking deep breaths and chanting with every exhale.

"At least wait for us to get surface side before you engage!" Garfield shouted, "This isn't some petty theft or Cinderblock causing some havoc on a street corner, and it certainly won't be the same Adonis you fought before."

Sesha turned back to the screen as she came up to the doors. She faced her parents but kept her eyes averted, not wanting the anger within them to be directed at the wrong people.

"I'll be damned if I let some creep in a metal shell get away with possible info on people that want to write my family's fate," She said, "Catch up to me if you want."

With that she was gone past the doors. Immediately after the call went dark. Not from them hanging up but from Raven's magic teleporting the couple away.

The screen switched to a view of the hanger. Sesha was typing away at one of the consoles and a wave of light opened in one of the tubes. After a few steps the light faded and she was gone.

"What about any of us as back up?" Iris said, "Conrad, can I help with this guy?"

Conrad sighed and was lifted to his feet by a flock of emerald butterflies and landed next to Ulrich, "Who wants to help?"

"We can't have every Titan here follow you," Damian interjected, "Superboy can cover you."

Jon nodded and flew over to the two brothers.

"But can I-" Iris started.

"You'll be on standby here," Robin cut her off, "They are going after someone Superboy can most likely beat on his own. I agree with Sesha's assessment of needing to follow the lead just in case but I won't divide us for it. Not only that but two veterans are in route to help."

He finished and turned to the two males. After a curt nod from their leader the horde of butterflies turned into a multitude of ravens and swirled around Conrad and Superboy, swallowing them in a whirlwind of green. When they faded the pair was gone.

"For someone who's so lazy he sure is flashy," Iris chuckled.

Sesha materialized on a street near Jump City Penitentiary. Passerby started at the sudden appearance of the Titan and what few people on the street near the prison there were gave her a wide girth. She ignored them and sniffed around hoping that some trail was still traceable.

Just as she felt like she had homed in on something her brothers touched down on either side of her. She turned to look at Jon hovering over them. She tried to smile at him but the scent made her nose twist her face into a scowl instead.

"You smell it?" She asked her brothers rhetorically.

"It's disgusting," Ulrich retched, "And making me go crazy. Damian said two hours, so if it's him then it's unnatural to last this long and be this strong."

"I can barely even tell where it leads," Conrad said as he pinched his nose.

"What is it?" Jon said.

"Fresh blood," Sesha growled, "Blood by itself is bad, but this blood was spilled with vile intent. This is evil."

"What does it mean?" Superboy asked.

"That I was right." Sesha said.

With that she sprinted off down the street, her brothers close behind.

* * *

Raven materialized in the Watchtower command center, her husband at her side. J'onn turned to the couple walking out of the inky portal from his chair at the console.

"Is this about what Robin wished to speak to you about?" He asked.

"It is," Raven responded, then turned to speak to the main computer J'onn sat at, "We need a lock on Chimera's location."

The computer chirped and after flashing through images Conrad, Sesha and Ulrich came up through the view of a street camera. Jon was flying close above, the symbol on his chest casting a wave of happiness over the pedestrians he flew over.

"Get us down there!" Garfield shouted at the computer.

"Boom tube tunnel unstable. Unable to open at targeted location," a computer voice said.

"Why?" Raven demanded.

J'onn executed a few keystrokes and answered, "There is some unknown interference blocking our boom tubes. The source seems to be originating from wherever they are heading."

"Can you get us down there?" Garfield pleaded.

A Watchtower staff member answered, "In a few minutes tops. Once we break past the interference."

Raven's face donned a rare worried expression and she focused back on what her children were saying.

"I love going anywhere with Jon in costume," Sesha's voice came through the communicator link, "He draws so much positivity."

They were leaping or flying in an unknown direction. The screen rapidly swapped between cameras to keep them in frame.

"Not to rain on the literal parade that he can make," Ulrich said, "We need to stay sharp. There's no telling what kind of fight we're walking into."

Raven walked up to the console and said, "He's right. So wait until we get down there!"

"Sorry, mom," Conrad said, making a point to look at the street cameras they passed as he spoke, "You can't smell the trail he left. It's unnatural, and alone it's cause for us to investigate."

Garfield came up beside Raven and said, "Then at least wait to engage once you see him. He could have something tha-"

"Watch out!" Jon yelled.

An eighteen wheeler soared at them. Jon was in front of it immediately and it stopped its rapid descent by grabbing the side of the truck and crushing the wheel well in his feat. As he did the long trailer behind it creaked as it bent to gravity's whim. Ulrich and Conrad were catching it with their magic before it could threaten to break and together the three of them gently set it down. Jon looked into the driver seat and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay, sir?" He asked the clearly shaken but unharmed driver clutching the steering wheel.

As the man started to give him a quivering nod the sound of strained metal was heard. He lifted his eyes to look at the steel monstrosity that now stood on top of the trailer. It fit the description that was given about Adonis' suit but this one was painted crimson instead of hot rod red and instead of the roundness that made the metal imitate muscle there were menacing edges. Sigils that Jon hoped weren't drawn in blood were painted over black racing stripes up and down its limbs pulsed with an unsettling glow. A gold crown, adorned with familiar horns that the triplets had to fight a roll in their stomachs at the sight of, was on top of the helmet that Adonis' sneering face wore.

"Those sickos," Ulrich said at the metal reincarnation of their grandfather.

"The Church of Blood didn't give him upgrades. They made him a nightmare," Conrad said.

"You like the new suit, freaks?" Adonis taunted, "How about I break it in all over your faces?"

Jon ripped the door that had been crumpled in his effort to catch the vehicle and shouted at the man to run.

As the trucker joined the flurry of citizens in their attempt to escape Sesha jumped up to meet Adonis with her hands crackling with lightning. She grabbed the suits arms and when her claws made contact there was no reaction.

Growling in frustration she became a Titanoboa and attempted to constrict the limbs instead putting Adonis inside a knot made from her fifty foot long body.

"Where did you get the new toy, bean pole?" Sesha hissed at him.

"Not really sure," he said, ignoring the jab, "The robed weirdos that gave me this suit said that I could play with it as long as I beat some respect into you."

Sesha raised her reptilian head to look at the man in the eyes and said, "I won't respect anyone looking like this."

Jon flew up and began a flurry of punches on the metal that Sesha wasn't covering with her long body. What cars Adonis staggered towards we're harmlessly pushed aside by a pair of emerald and black clouds.

Squatting behind the cars out of view Conrad grumbled, "Having to forgo my constructs makes me sloppy."

"No Johns," Ulrich said, standing next to him as he swiped his hands to save the vehicles from destruction and insurance policies.

"Come on you stupid suit!" Adonis shouted.

Finally he smirked and gave a triumphant shout, even as Jon beat into the suit he was in. The symbols on it came alight and Sesha's skin started to hiss. She rasped out a scream as she untangled from him and became human again and collapsed.

"Anti demon wards?!" Conrad shouted in fright, "We need to get her out of there!"

Jon hesitated in his next strike at Sesha's floundering morph but flew to try and extract her from her now compromised position at Adonis' feet.

A panel on the suit's chest opened and a small shard of glowing green rock was revealed.

"They got him Kryptonite?!" Ulrich said aghast, and sprang forward to intervene.

Adonis' smug smile became malicious when he gloated, "They said this rock would even the playing field if you came."

Jon's head sagged and he groaned. His forward momentum became only inertia as his flying ability started to fail. Ulrich flew to him and caught him, placing himself between Adonis and Jon. As he did he grit his teeth as his skin became a darker hue of green, losing his mother's tinge of gray. Adonis caught them and lifted them into the air.

When he didn't feel the wards activate Ulrich smirked with his fully green lips.

Adonis cocked a fist back and smacked them like a volleyball serve, launching the pair into one of the storefronts lining the street.

"Hybrid! Superboy!" Sesha cried through her own pain.

A translucent gorilla picked her up and attempted to flee but yet another marking on Adonis glowed. The mammalian construct staggered and broke apart, Conrad bit his tongue somewhere behind one of the abandoned cars to keep himself silent and hidden. Adonis looked down at Sesha, still gasping from pain the contact with his suit wrought her.

"Who's the one barely showing any skill now?" Adonis said.

"You," Sesha said, "That suit is doing all the work."

Adonis sneered and brought his leg back and punted her into a shop adjacent the one her brother and Jon had flown into earlier.

Conrad growled from his cover, knowing that he needed to do something. He sighed and let his head fall back and hit the car door he was resting against.

"I hate heavy lifting," he deadpanned.

The asphalt underneath Adonis glowed green and, before the wards on his suit could break it down, the tail of a blue whale flung him into the air. The whale 'breached' the asphalt and followed its opponent into the air. It shrank and became a swallow to keep up with the careening villain and when it meet Adonis at the arch of his flight dipped its flight and shifted again. A mighty Argentinosaurus, one of the largest creatures to ever walk the planet with it's incredibly long neck and tail, spun in the air and whipped Adonis downward with its twelve meter long neck, spiking him back into the street.

Even though the green construct warbled from the surge of ripples that culminated from the point of contact with Adonis, Adonis himself was sent careening back down into the street.

The titanic reptile fell and stomped all four limbs onto the villain and pressing him into the bus he collapsed into. Just as the vehicle jostled up on its shocks the dinosaur that turned it into a pancake was ripped apart from another surge of ripples starting from its feet. For good measure two ethereal bull elephants pressed the bus together on both sides and wrapping Adonis in the vehicle's remains, compounding his struggle to stand from the crushed bus.

"Hurry up, please," Conrad muttered to the stores that his siblings and Jon had disappeared into while trying to soothe his aching head and limbs. He also looked up at the street camera extending the plea to those watching.

Jon and Ulrich were picking themselves up. Ulrich had taken most of the initial impact but Jon had shielded Ulrich from the subsequent shattered glass from the storefront.

"Stupid rock," Jon complained, "One look at a pebble and I'm useless."

"We aren't that much better with those wards," Ulrich said, "Damn criminal black markets could get Control Freak a mother box."

Jon looked at Ulrich's fully green arms and face and asked, "You take a leaf out Desiree's book?"

"Yeah," Ulrich answered, popping his neck with a roll as his skin shifted back to his normal pale green, "I have an easier time than her cause she has to swing between both when I'm _already_ both but it still hurt like hell. It proved that those wards attack any generic demon and weren't specifically crafted for us. They didn't activate when I shifted most of the demon out of my DNA. Should have let Dez come after all."

The two of them walked back out onto the street. Sesha also staggered out of the shop she was launched into, taking a bit longer than the other two.

"Sesh!" Ulrich called out and ran over to her.

"I could use some heals," she said with a chuckle. The skin that wasn't burned by Adonis' suit on the front of her arms and legs was now riddled with small glass fractures stuck into her skin on her back. The burns weren't flush with the edges of her leotard so they most likely covered the front of her torso as well. She was awkwardly ramrod straight with her arms raised slightly to not aggravate either side.

Jon quickly hovered over, saying as he did, "Can I check your wounds?"

"Check me out all you want," Sesha said, the only thing keeping her from smirking was her contortions from the burns and lacerations.

Jon fought a blush, scanned her with his enhanced vision and said, "There's a fair amount of glass but nothing life threatening. The burns on your front only seem first degree though it's almost second degree on your-"

"Boobs?" Sesha groaned.

"Abdomen! I was gonna say abdomen," Jon rushed out, "Your abdomen got the worst burn."

"You checked everything?" Sesha said with a grin.

"I didn't look past your bra!" Jon said hurriedly.

Sesha gave Jon a coy smile and when he turned away to hide his blush she said, "Shame."

Ulrich sighed and said, "Jon has enough assault to handle with the kryptonite by itself, Sesha. Just stay on the sidelines."

"Yes, you need medical attention," Raven's voice in their ear reaffirmed.

Raven and Garfield were standing in front of them after a shimmer of light. Raven looked at them while Garfield stalked forward to the twisted metal remains of the bus that Adonis was trying to pry himself from.

"Get back to the tower," Raven said.

"I said I wouldn't let him-" Sesha started but was cut off by her mother.

"I know and I don't care," Raven said with force, "I won't have you continue fighting when you look like the result of Two Face in a bad slapstick cartoon."

Sesha fought a smile on her face and said, "Don't make me laugh. My everything hurts."

"All the more reason to get you out of here," Jon said taking her hands.

"Can't at least you stay to fight?" Sesha said, casting a quick look at their joined hands.

"That kryptonite makes me a liability unless I'm traveling away from it, so I can at least get you to the Tower," Jon said.

"A noble thought that you have my gratitude for, Superboy, but I should just portal you two," Raven said, "She doesn't seem to be in good traveling condition."

"My everything hurts," Sesha reiterated with mock enthusiasm.

As the pair was portaled off by his mother Ulrich turned to her.

"What took you so long?" He asked.

"The upgrades to that suit are more than just magical. There is some form of dampener for the boom tubes that delayed us," Raven explained, "At least it gave us an opportunity to watch you fight him and see how his new suit works."

"Sesha is still right. We don't want you to fight him alone," Conrad said as he walked up to join them.

"It's fine," their mother assuaged, "There is a glaring problem with what they did to Adonis' armor that comes with layering so many wards and spells onto one object."

"Of course," Ulrich said with a wave of his hand at the simple solution, as if berating himself for not thinking of it sooner, "It becomes a house of cards."

Raven nodded as she watched her husband approach the downed villain, "And only one of us here can knock it down."

Adonis grunted as we finally freed himself from the wreckage of the bus. He looked up and saw Garfield stalking towards him with a livid predatory look on his face.

"Hah!" Adonis laughing pompously, "Can't you tell from when I put your freak of a daughter through that store that this suit was made to take all of you down?"

Garfield didn't slow his approach, but he did start growling as his shoulders broadened and he grew taller with swaths of fur sprouting on his body. His eyes stayed level on Adonis' and his irises became slits.

"Maybe, but there is a fatal flaw my son found," Garfield ground out.

He finally reached we're Adonis stood, too cocky to even move or object to his approach.

"Thanks so him I'll be able to act on my urge to beat you to a pulp right now. Even if I hold back the more bloody outcomes," Garfield said.

Adonis scoffed, "But you can't even touch me in this."

"Can't you tell?" Garfield mocked Adonis' earlier words, "You were so busy thinking of how strong this suit made you you didn't see how weak it was."

Garfield reached out to simply grab under one of the pectoral plates. Adonis started to laugh but the chortle started to die and turn into awkward hems and haws when nothing happened. Adonis swallowed the lump forming in his throat and swung his fist to knock the green Titan away but by the time his punch connected the Beast had thrown his own.

With the leverage he had with his hold on Adonis' armor, the Beast's strike won out and Adonis was flying again and the Beast was spared with only his head snapping to the side. The Beast rolled his head and the joints made satisfying pops. He grumbled and lowered himself to his haunches and knuckles, just as Adonis raised himself to ready for a fight.

The Beast burst forward on all fours, gruffly pumping his lungs like a gorilla and collided with his metal adversary. They traded blows, neither having a solid advantage over the other in strength. The Beast extended his claws and raked them over the surface of the suit that the blood was drawn on but even as he made indentations in the metal they persisted and kept glowing.

Adonis laughed at the effort and said, "We're on even ground and no one else can lay a finger on me! Though I wouldn't mind some touching from the lady over there."

Adonis paused his strikes to glance at Raven.

She only narrowed her eyes and sneered.

The Beast, however, redoubled his efforts to claw the sigils off. He only made Adonis laugh harder.

"No matter what you do I'm still in a better suit with better defenses," Adonis gloated.

"Then I'll get some of the best claws under the sea," Garfield said through the Beast's maw.

A form of red aura appeared over his arm, the over developed claw of a pistol shrimp, and snapped his fingers. The resulting shock wave stunned Adonis, rattling his armor like a gong. The Beast closed the gap, grabbing Adonis again and with a bone rattling roar the he lifted Adonis over his head and slammed him onto his back on his opposite side.

The Beast raised its arm and the red visage changed to that of a clubbed lobster arm. The Beast swung down and the force of the strongest striking power in the animal kingdom with the extra muscle density of a blue whale's tail pounded Adonis' right shoulder.

"Damn," Ulrich said, "Go dad."

After a few powerful blows the mechanical arm was crushed and severed, exposing the gyros and hydraulics underneath. They swiveled, twitched and sputtered lubrication as the runes on the severed prosthetic glowed harshly before they shriveled and turned black and brown, the blood they were written in seeming to rot and then rust the metal they coated.

The effect permeated to the rest of the runes all over Adonis and he scrambled to flee from the hulking monolith of fur, fangs and claws. When he finally got to his feet, the effort slightly crippled by his missing arm, he turned to face none other than Raven.

He had the wherewithal to keep himself from screaming at the sight of her burning red eyes and only whimpered as a black tendril curled around and ripped his other prosthetic arm off, the wards no longer there to keep her at bay. Left with only a mangled torso on legs, he fell to his knees.

"You're under arrest," Raven said before her eyes returned to normal, "Again."

The Beast clawed at and grabbed the pectoral plates again and began to pry it off. When he had begun to rip the armor off Raven gasped.

"Gar, stop!" she shouted in alarm.

The Beast dropped Adonis with a start. The villain started to fall forward like a puppet with no strings and there was a flash of light. The armor smacked against the asphalt, now empty.

The Beast sniffed it and swiveled on the spot, trying to ascertain where the man had went.

"He's gone, Gar," Raven said and placed a hand on the Beast's scruff. She then flipped the metal shell with a wave of her hand and magic. She pointed at the inside of the suit where Adonis once was. There were markings covering the pilot padding like the outside runes, still smoldering like they had just been used.

"Fail safes," she explained as Garfield began to shrink back to human form under her hand, "They were similar to the ones on the outside but instead of working until broken they only worked _when_ broken. He was transported once you tried to pry him out."

Garfield cursed when he was human again, "I shouldn't have been so rash to get him out of the suit."

Conrad walked up to his father's side and said, "Considering his last escapade I don't think it was wrong to get him far from his suit a soon as you were able."

Garfield nodded and looked down at him.

"You okay?" He asked him.

Conrad rubbed the side of his head as he answered in a mocking tone, "My everything hurts."

Raven would have gone to sooth her son but the suit's appearance held her attention. She started to clench her fist and the metal was engulfed in black.

When the suit started to creak and whine from the applied pressure Garfield placed a hand on her shoulder. The suit stopped its sounds of protest but stayed the midnight color.

"We could use it as evidence to trace it to the Church," Garfield said.

Raven narrowed her eyes, not taking them off of the horns protruding from the helmet. With a twist of her wrist they both snapped off and were crushed into a gold ball that floated up to her.

"I don't think we would have gotten anything out of them, anyways," she said as the sphere landed in her hand, "Let's get the rest to the tower."


	8. Licking Wounds

I wish I had a good excuse but I don't. I was in a mega slump and only a new friend reading the first few chapters and enjoying it so much got me kicking myself into writing again. I didn't want to _need_ reviews for inspiration and drive but after the trauma that happened in my personal life I guess I do.

Please review and I'll respond to each one. Tell me which kid you like the most, hell maybe even the least. Why? I'll prolly laugh and say that it was intentional.

Either way, for however much I delayed posting this one I feel like it's one of my better ones for how short it is. Tell me what you think when your done reading!

* * *

"I can heal you too, ya know." Desiree chided Sesha as she waddled awkwardly to the medbay beside Jon. Desiree had at least gotten Sesha to slow down to tie up her hair so it wouldn't disturb the wounds on her back but she was determined to be alone with Jon in the medbay.

"Jon said he's gonna fix me up," Sesha said, "I said I'm fine. Just go with Willow to the game room."

"Can I at least get the worst of your burns? I know those hurt the worst and you can just shed the rest," Desiree pleaded.

Sesha made eye contact and thought to her, " _Sure, you can do that but stop clam jamming me."_

Desiree rolled her eyes, " _Okay, gross. And I am not. You're still seventeen and he's too much of a Boy Scout, even with the Romeo and Juliet laws protecting him."_

Desiree heard Sesha whine in her head, " _I know! It's only a few months too."_

"Are you talking in your heads?" Jon asked, halting their mental conversation.

The sisters looked at him and for a second he shrunk away, "I interrupt something?"

Sesha shook her head as much as she could without pain and said, "Nah, just girl shit. Now heal me if you want to so much, Dez."

"You can get all the gauze and rubbing alcohol ready," Desiree said to the flustered kryptonian.

He nodded and flew to the medbay down the hall and inside.

" _Rubbing_ alcohol?" Sesha asked, "Is there any glass in my butt? Ow!"

She glanced down at her stomach. Desiree was leaning slightly and her hands were glowing but she had physically poked her instead of just hovering over the wound.

"Oops," Desiree said with thick sarcasm, "You know how hard it is to heal through clothing."

Sesha's brow twitched at the statement they both knew was untrue for something as simple as a burn but she smirked afterwards, "Guess I'll have to take it off for Jon to tend to my back."

The burn now healed Desiree straightened up to her full height, sighed and returned to thought, " _I know you like him and all but he hasn't done much more to reciprocate then blush at and not ask you to stop your obnoxious flirting. Are you sure he will ever come around?"_

" _We're empaths that can smell pheromones. Had I sensed at any point that he doesn't actually like it on some level I would have stopped. You think he doesn't return even the slightest something?"_ Sesha retorted.

" _I think he does, but are you sure that him getting flustered at your forwardness can't be misinterpreted?"_ Desiree thought.

" _Valid point. Our empathy isn't a hundred percent accurate. But I wouldn't be my father's daughter if I gave up without trying,"_ Sesha though with determination.

" _I just don't want you to chase something and never get it. I know how you compensate with your loud and flirty attitude as a defense,"_ Desiree thought.

Sesha's lip curled slightly and turned to face Desiree but before even a growl could build in her throat Jon poked his head into the hall.

"I just realized. You're going to have to take off your leotard, aren't you?" Jon said.

Sesha laughed and said, "We already established that you checked me out."

"It was a medical examination!" He said forcefully before ducking back into the medbay.

Sesha's smile fell slightly and she turned back to Desiree, her small flare of anger gone, and said softly, "I'll be okay. Don't worry."

"You know that's all I do," Desiree said, walking forward and delicately resting her head on Sesha's shoulder and put her hands on Sesha's sides in a half hug to not disturb the glass.

Sesha put her hands on the same place on Desiree's sides and said, "You're more of a worry wart than mom sometimes. Now go find Willow. I'm sure she's looking for her twin."

Desiree nodded and detached herself from her sister. When she was down the hall Sesha walked to the doorway of the medbay and said, "Now, about needing to take off my leotard."

* * *

Iris sat in between Willow and Conrad, who had just gotten back.

They were on the couch in the gaming room, the brother and sister engaged in a game while Iris watched.

Or laughed.

"That looked so silly!" She gasped as she clutched her midsection, "A giant dinosaur fidget spinner!"

"I wanted to hit him with something huge with as minimal surface area actually touching those wards on him as possible," Conrad said with a twitch under one of his eyes.

Willow, however, noticed the flutter go through his stomach at Iris' laugh. She had known Iris for a long time since their parents brought them along to the Titan reunions so long ago. She had had her suspicions as to why her brother avoided Iris in their tween years but seeing them interact in the mandatory setting of being on a team together confirmed them.

Willow did a goofy giggle and said, "If you wanted to hit him with something long and huge you coulda whipped out your-"

A bat materialized on her shoulder and slapped its wing over her mouth effectively muffling the rest of her sentence. The game in front of them paused and Conrad turned his head to Willow so slowly and so stiffly she could swear she heard it creak like a rusted door.

" _Are you kidding me, Willow?!"_ Conrad shouted into her head, " _We deal with that enough from Sesha! Why do you do the same!?"_

He turned back to Iris and said, "I don't know how you became best friends with her. Please ignore her."

Iris shrugged it off, though the slightest coloring was on her cheeks, and said, "She's on to something. It prolly would have looked better if you used an _anaconda_ like Sesha."

Conrad groaned and leaned forward to put his head in his hands as the pair high fived over him.

"Never mind. I do know how you became friends," he grumbled.

"And I continue to question that we shared a womb," Desiree said from the door.

Willow snapped her head to look at her sister and she smiled blindingly.

"Hi, twin!" she shouted while waving needlessly.

"Nope. I walked into this conversation with Sesha using an anaconda with nasty implications," Desiree said while pulling her pigtails over her ears, "Now I'm walking out."

"Context!" Willow shouted.

"I don't think any context will save that one, Willow," Iris said with another shrug.

Willow flicked her wrist at her sister and in a swirl of dark green they were sitting next to each other.

"We need a fourth," Willow said.

"Shoulda ran while you had the chance," Conrad said glumly.

"When she's gonna be on my team? No one would run at that opportunity," Willow said.

Iris looked across and pointed at Conrad, "So mopey is with me?"

"Yep!" Willow said while setting up at the character selection screen. Meanwhile Conrad fought a twitch under his eye again.

"Don't fall asleep on me like this morning, Eeyore," Iris said.

"Whoa! Phrasing!" Willow shouted.

"Shut up, Willow!"

* * *

Robin watched the recording of Adonis catching Ulrich and Jon again. Once Adonis had once again punched the pair through the shop and out of sight he turned to the present Ulrich.

"It was a mistake to not take Eclipse," Robin said. His tone carried a simple message.

"I messed up by thinking it better to keep her here. With how our dad handled it she would have been an asset," Ulrich said while dipping his head slightly.

"While it was a mistake, it was unforeseeable with what lengths they went with his armor to counter you," Damian said, his tone almost softening as he watched Ulrich run over to his wounded sister on the screen again.

Ulrich raised his head, confused at the sign of leniency. Damian rose from his desk and walked around it.

"You have a lot on your shoulders, Ulrich," Damian started, causing the addressed Logan's eyes to widen. Damian continued, "You want to protect your brothers and sisters, now even more with this new threat. You want to live up to your parents because they're your idols, but you have to remember that they made mistakes too. So don't let it weigh on you."

Ulrich couldn't help but chuckle, "A lot of us on this team have someone to live up to, huh?"

Robin stared at him for a beat of silence and Ulrich's smile grew.

"I'm already doing my father justice," Robin said.

"There it is," Ulrich mumbled with a smirk.

Robin either didn't hear it or chose to ignore it and said, "Just be the leader they want you to be."

Ulrich nodded.

"Is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked.

"One thing," Damian said.

"Adonis."

* * *

Adonis gasped and struggled for breath as he came back into the realm of the conscious. He shot into a sitting position and began to cough up a metaphorical lung.

When the fit passed he climbed to his feet and looked around to see himself in the center of a stone gothic altar. It was pitch black spare the lighting by torches whose fire lapped at the low stone ceiling.

"Hello?" He called into the dark.

A single hooded figure walked into the light. The robe they wore was a simple dull bronze color. The only extraordinary feature was a black sash that served to keep the robe tied around their waist.

"Follow me," the figure said, the aged voice telling Adonis it was an older female. She turned and disappeared back into the darkness.

"Not until you tell me where I am!" Adonis shouted.

The figures voice responded, "Are you in a position to make demands?"

Adonis looked down at the altar he still stood on. The markings similar to the ones he saw in the suit that was given to him by a similarly dressed group of people that creeped him out.

Unfortunately he couldn't pass up the opportunity to get back at the brats that had humiliated him.

"I just wanted to beat up the Beast and his brat Titans. I never signed up for all of this cult shit," Adonis said as he stepped off the altar.

"You want to back out?" The voice continued from the shadows, "Very well. We can just use your blood for our next few circles anyways. Wouldn't want to be wasteful."

Adonis fought a yelp and scrambled off the altar, careful not to step on any of the lines.

"Okay, fine," Adonis said with a shaky voice, "But why should I stay when the suit you gave me got ripped to spreads by the Beast? I might have taken out some of the brats but he tore me apart by himself."

"You misunderstand the purpose of your first attack," the voice said, "We knew you wouldn't do much actual damage to them. That suit was a prototype anyways."

* * *

Robin pressed some buttons on his suits cuff and pulled up schematics taken from Adonis suit and pulled it up onto a screen on the wall.

"We know what many of the suits capabilities are and what counter measures they have. They most likely just gave it to Adonis and set him loose with the promise of power to rile his small brain into attacking you on sight with the obvious paper trail they left. Given how expendable they treated it it's most likely a prototype," Robin said.

Ulrich crossed his arms in thought at the deductions Damian put out. His eyebrows shot up and he said, "Kryptonite is expendable? That shard alone must have cost a small fortune on the black market!"

Robin nodded, "So that's where we look when they build the next one for that idiot."

* * *

"Doing a real good job convincing me to stay, lady," Adonis said.

"Silence, fool!" The voice cut at him, "Your first encounter was merely a play. We didn't want you to harm them. We wanted to seed doubt into them."

* * *

"But why save Adonis?" Ulrich inquired, "He can't be that valuable."

Robin hummed in discontent, "Not to them, but to you. You're family has history with him as far back as when they were your age. They want to rile you up and the worst part is they know we know. It's all in service of a mind game."

* * *

"So you stick me in an oversized paperweight to mess with their heads?" Adonis asked, obviously irked at the simple plan that used him as a pawn in their game.

* * *

"Conrad?" Willow asked, the other three on the couch barely breaking pace in the game they were playing, "How much did that hurt? When those wards broke your constructs?"

Her brother tensed and the three girls actually heard the plastic of the controller in his hands creak under the strain.

"I'm honestly surprised Sesha was able to stand at all after wrapping herself around that monsterosity, the glass be damned," he said, "Touching it felt like my soul was being tainted and shredded at the same time."

Willow propped her legs in front of her and wrapped her arms around them, "I'm scared. If they gave it to a no life like Adonis, who else could they send after us?"

Iris put a soothing hand on her shoulder, "Don't let this eat at you. It's nothing that we can't handle."

Desiree pulled the controller from her twin's hands and messaged comforting circles into them with her thumbs. Willow seemed to ignore it and grabbed her legs harder.

"Did you see how our mom reacted to the Church just being mentioned?" Willow said, shrinking further into her fetal position, "What if they send someone smarter or stronger than Adonis after us? What if the next one to come after us with those wards that burned Sesh and broke Con's constructs is someone like Deathstroke?"

No one seated on the couch with her said anything else. They didn't move to restart the forgotten game they had stopped playing when it flashed it's "Game Over" screen at them.

* * *

"Indeed," the woman said, "We aren't here to break them. We're here to push them into their own darkness."

* * *

Sesha looked at the plethora of glass pieces no longer in her back and on a table beside her. Even laying down on her stomach didn't stop her from craning her neck to keep her attention on them. She stared at the bloody misshapen quadrilaterals and triangles and they started to stand out in her eyes. Her blood covering the glass shards turned into four burning eyes grinning at her with a jagged glass smile.

She turned away from the small table and mumbled under her breath, "How the hell did mom deal?"

"You okay? This isn't hurting or uncomfortable at all?" Jon asked as he looked at her back, unsure if her mumblings were sounds of discomfort or not.

Sesha shifted her mind's focus to the sensation of Jon's heat vision. She felt her normally lethargic regeneration being stimulated by her cells being heated up on microscopic level. A trick that was learned through Damian's influence.

"It's fine," she mumbled half heartedly into the pillow her head was on.

"You sure? I'm honestly surprised that you didn't break a few bones from that kick Adonis gave you. You're not sore at all?" He said.

"I did break a few. Bones are the easiest to fix with my brand of regeneration so I was fine by the time I walked out to meet you guys," she explained.

"That was you fine? I'd hate to see you banged up then," Jon chuckled.

Sesha didn't respond, preferring to concentrate on the pleasant feeling of her back being healed by the soothing heat.

"Okay, now I know something is up. You're too quiet," Jon said after finishing his task and handing her a gown from the cabinet.

She sat up to dress herself, uncaring of Jon seeing her nakedness. She didn't even crack a smile when Jon blushed and averted his gaze. Jon noticed her continued silence he looked at her with concern once she was decent.

"Am I obnoxious?" She asked quietly.

"What?" Jon said in surprise.

"You heard me," Sesha said with a slight inflection of anger, though her head bowed further.

Jon chuckled awkwardly and rubbed his arms, "I wouldn't say obnoxious. You're just boisterous and forward with your attitude."

Sesha sighed and let her head fall back, "You're sugar coating it. People sugar coat with me. Why? Because I'm a bomb that might go off if you piss her off."

She raised her hands to clench them at the sides of her head. She inhaled deeply and let them fall to her sides. She sighed again but it came out as grunt of frustration towards the end of it.

Jon walked up to her and put her hands on her shoulders, "I wasn't. I was telling you what I thought of you. Yes, you're loud and thoughtless at times with a bad temper."

Sesha rolled her eyes with a scowl, "Nice pep talk."

Jon shook her slightly, surprising the girl with his slightly less than benign action.

"I know there are times you let it get away from you but you try your best to use it. You throw yourself at villains if it means a civilian can get away. You get mad when your siblings are threatened, even not caring that you talk back to Damian. You might have a bad temper but no one can say that it's blind. You care about people and get angry for them. I think that's what matters," Jon said.

Sesha was about to say something but Jon continued. "You're a brave and strong girl who, when you get hurt, thinks it's worth it if that punishment was meant for someone else. We both call ourselves tanks because we take the front lines and we don't care what pain we take because we know we can take it."

Sesha flushed a bit at the praise but shook her head with a small chuckle, "Then what's the difference between me and you?"

Jon smiled and said, "That's obvious. I'm invulnerable so it's practical for me to take the big hits. You take them because you think you should."

Jon's smile fell a little and he brushed some of Sesha's choppy hair behind her pointed ear, making her breath catch.

" _You've been flirting up a storm with this guy for two years!"_ she shouted at herself in her head, " _He brushes your hair and you swoon? Come on! You got this!"_

"I heard you talk with Desiree the day of the spars," Jon said, "You think that just because you're the brawn you're expendable to protect everyone else. Did you forget what you did against Static?"

Sesha tilted her head in a way that reminded Jon of a puppy and it made him chuckle. The action caused him to lean forward towards her slightly.

"You used that head of yours. You might have used your brawn to compensate but you were clever enough to keep up with Virgil, and he's quite the clever guy himself. You're not nearly as little brain as you think you are," Jon praised.

Sesha had enough of her barings this time to smirk in response, but it fell slightly, "What about my humor? I can tell that it's a little hard to stomach from the reactions I get."

Jon shrugged a little helplessly, "It's an acquired taste?"

"You of all people saying that? I do assault you a lot with my jokes and flirting," Sesha chuckled halfheartedly, "Sometimes I'm not sure if you enjoy my banter or you just tolerate me because that's how big a heart you have."

Jon scoffed out a laugh and said, "I think it's a bit of both."

Sesha cocked her head back and pulled her lip up, "What's that mean?"

"I've grown to enjoy it," Jon said simply.

Sesha looked at him for a beat of silence before smiling and said, "I'll take it."

* * *

Adonis stepped closer to the shadows as the voice continued. "Now that we are known to them, festering in the back of their minds like their mother before them, we can make sure that what is inside the darkness of their souls grows."

* * *

Ethan meditated in his room. His eyes opened and he was greeted by his reflection. He sighed and pushed himself to his feet.

Stepping out from in front of his mirror he strode to his bedside table and picked up a picture of his family from a few years back. They were all playing in a park in a pile. Willow and Sesha were struggling for the top with Ulrich and Conrad unfortunately subjected to be beneath their flailing limbs. They had already given up in the bid for superiority of the pile by the time their father had been ready with the camera.

A drop of water splashed onto the glass covering.

Desiree was off the the side, desperately torn between joining the sibling romp and making sure they were all unharmed. Even her, at the time, amature healing aura was coating her extended hands. From the bottom of the frame he could see their mother's left arm extend from her position under their father's own left arm.

Then another droplet.

In the back was Ethan himself. He had a huge smile on his face as he pointed and laughed at his siblings' antics. Ethan chuckled at the memory, always enjoying watching their over the top roughhousing, even if his lack of shapeshifting abilities and demon durability barred him from joining whenever they arose.

Soon the frame was damp.

He gave one last nostalgic once over of the picture before setting it back down on the table once more. He stretched his arms and yawned.

Then he walked to the door, intent on finding one of the teens who he had just seen framed. Before crossing to exit, he looked at his reflection again. He smiled at himself, still giddy that the teen looking back at him could call himself a Titan, and left his room.

He paid no mind to the tear trails on his face.

* * *

"Once they are ripe, we can rip them out," the hooded woman said venomously.


	9. Tofu and Apprehension

This one is early cause I felt like such trash for delaying the last one. This one is fun and worrying at the same time. I'm setting up more stuff here and also getting out of my comfort zone of not writing Sesha. She accidentally became my favorite. Now I have to shift focus to Willow.

Enjoy and Review! The more I get the more likely I am to not disappear like I did after chapter 7.

* * *

"You okay Willow?"

The question jerked her out of her daze. She shook her head and blinked at her surroundings. She was with Iris, Mari and Cassie. The trio had offered to take her out and pull her from the glum state she put herself in after Adonis' resurgence a week prior. Her siblings had tried vehentimatly the first few days after but she wouldn't budge saying she would get over it herself. At this they regretfully relented and left her alone with the edge of their auras always brushing against hers.

She didn't want to make a habit of using her siblings as a crutch to quell her turmoil. So she had no choice but to avoid them. Even so she felt them trying to silently sap her anxiety from her.

It felt awful to do so with everything a whirlwind. She may be dealing with this on her own but each one of her brothers and sisters had it in some form. Even their parents were stationed in the Tower, demanding to not let their children go unattended with the Church of Blood hanging over them. Yet they were so busy with tracking the Church and whatever leads they would acquire and figuring out the mechanisms and spells in and on Adonis' suit that the only free time they had was dedicated to sleep.

They were in the same building and Willow barely saw either of them.

The worst was when the only bastion against the state of unrest cast by the Church was Sesha pulling her and Desiree aside and gushing about her encounter with Jon only to be swiftly tossed into darkness.

Willow had gotten a stern look, from Sesha no less, when she was confused over Sesha's hesitation in going further in her pursuit of Jon.

"It may have felt like he wanted to kiss me but I'll still wait until I'm eighteen," she had said, fuming.

"But you don't really have to. The law only cares about sexy stuff. Why are you so defensive over it?" Willow had retorted.

"Because, i-it's," Sesha started, but had faltered, "It's Jon! Superboy! Son of Big Blue! The boy scoutiest guy on the planet! He has integrity!"

"That doesn't stop how you flirt with him. Why now that he finally showed interest?" Desiree had asked, genuinely confused at her about face from the night before.

"Because how would it look if I'm the golden boy's intolerable underage girlfriend? I can already see the tabloids. I shouldn't be headline fodder if I want to be with him," Sesha had asked while rubbing her arms.

"So you sacrifice your own feelings for his integrity?" Desiree had protested, "From what you described Jon seems to want to have something with you, but you don't want to explore it because you think he values his image more? Is that what he thinks?"

"No! Maybe? I don't know!" Sesha had blurted in frustration.

"I don't get it. You looked ready to pounce on him before going into the medbay," Desiree had said and thrown her hands up.

"I'm just being better," Sesha had said so quietly that only with their advanced hearing had they picked it up.

Willow had wanted to get her twins attention to warn of the building emotion from the elder sister. It would have been fruitless because Desiree had already been aware and os always the one to pry and release the stress from each of them. Even if it drew their anger.

"Better?" Desiree had questioned, "Why? Were you not good enough before?"

"Yes!" Sesha had roared and clentched the air in front of her in rage.

Desiree and Willow had jumped back and eyed the razors she had grown on her fingertips.

Desiree had stepped forward back to where she was prior and said, "That's it? Your changing yourself for him? That's already a bad sign."

"I don't care," Sesha had growled, "Every other word out of my mouth is an innuendo or a bad joke. I'm constantly being reminded that the one out of all of us that's needs to grow up the most is me. Is it really a bad thing for me to finally work on myself?"

"If it's for someone else then yes," Desiree had said while crossing her arms, "Yes it is. You should do it for yourself because if you do it for someone else than if whoever it is leaves then you'll go back to however you were before."

"That's not true. What does it matter why I change if I'm better for it," Sesha had said and continued to huff silently. Quills started to sprout from her arms and back, poking through her shirt.

"Guys," Willow had said softly, "You're forgetting the other reason why Jon is beating around the bush."

Sesha's quills had relaxed and shrunk away and she had put her hands to her face, "Yeah. I sometimes forget how slowly he's healing from that."

"You put it nicely, Sesh. He's the golden boy. He doesn't want anyone to know he's still hurting over her. They may still be friends but she left a pretty big hole in his heart," Desiree had said, "I don't think it's a good idea to try and force yourself to fill it, Sesha."

All Sesha had done was nod.

From there the conversation had turned to the ominous air the Tower was under and how they were dealing with it. That was where Willow had first dodged the conversation, cascading into where she was now.

"Willow!"

Jerked from her musings a second time she looked into the worried eyes of her best friend. Iris put on a smile Willow could feel was for her sake and jerked her thumb towards their destination; a newly opened vegan restaurant.

Willow looked between the three girls escorting her and twiddled her thumbs behind her and said, "Why are we going here? I know you three don't like our diet."

"But we took you out. So we're going where you can eat," Mari said, smiling in a motherly fashion despite their few years age difference.

"Come on. I heard good things about this place and we didn't request boom tube access to get here for nothing," Iris said while grabbing for Willow's arms.

Iris' grab phased through Willow's arms and Willow continued to fiddle her hands and mumbled, "I'm not hungry."

Cassie scoffed and took Willow by her lasso and dragged her toward the restaurant.

"We all know that's a lie," She said.

* * *

They sat around their food. Cassie picked at the salad, hopeful that she would enjoy the vegan dish after the first few bites but quickly eating the only morsels that her tastebuds found satisfying. Mari was still working on hers. Her Tamaranean tastes finding nothing wrong with the food, yet still stealthily added her own flair from a small bottle of mustard. Iris had already cleaned her plate, her speedster metabolism keeping her from making any complaints about it.

Willow stared at her own food, having barely touched it.

Her three friends looked between each other in slight worry.

"Hello," a slightly less than chipper voice said.

The girls looked up to see a waitress that seemed to be trying her best not to hyperventilate in front of them. The woman looked to be in her early thirties but held herself like a meek schoolgirl in comparison to the young heroines.

"Are you enjoying the food?" She asked as she eyed Iris' empty plate in comparison to Willow's near full one, "Is there anything you need?"

"No thank you," Mari said and then squinted at her name badge, making the woman squirm even more, "Jessica. We're all good for now."

Jessica nodded and smiled, seeming to not trust her voice, and walked away to help another table.

"She was a ball of nerves, wasn't she?" Cessie said with sympathetic humor.

"She also looked familiar," Mari said with a hum of curiosity.

"And green," Willow said offhandedly.

"Green? Where did green come from?" Iris asked, not wanting to bring attention to her friend's skin from the tone of her voice.

Willow shrugged, "Just the vibe I got."

After the odd statement they seemed to be struggling to find a subject of conversation to pull Willow out of her slump when Cassie nonchalantly spoke.

"So, Iris. How's your gaming sessions with Conrad?"

Iris blanched at the question and shrunk into herself, wishing she hadn't eaten so fast so she could fill her mouth with something besides an answer.

Willow, however, seemed to perk up and threw Iris a coy smile, saying, "Yeah, I think you've spent just as much time in the game room as he has. And we all know that's pretty much his second bedroom."

Iris wanted to glare at Cassie for the subject choice but the chance to get Willow talking outweighed it.

"Ya know. We hang out and play games. What else is there to say?" Iris shrugged.

"What about that one time you two came from there to breakfast?" Mari asked as she drizzled more mustard into her salad.

"We both fell asleep gaming?" Iris said, hoping that phrasing it like a question would cover her embarrassment, "Those beanbags are deceptively comfy."

"You're almost as bad as Sesha when we first caught her daydreaming about Jon," Willow laughed.

Iris blushed, having seen the two of them much closer as of late.

"Speaking of games, are you going to Evo this year, Willow?" Iris asked in a bid to change the subject.

Willow spared her any further embarrassment and took the segway, "Yep! I'm not sure if I want to enter in any tournaments, though. I'm not nearly good enough in anything to not drown in pools."

"To not what?" Cassie said like they were speaking a different language.

"Pools are like mini tournaments to weed out the weaker players before the real tournament starts," Mari said before putting more mustard flavored salad into her mouth.

Cassie looked at her and back to the other two and back again, "You know that stuff too?"

Mari made a noncommittal sound and hand wave, "I picked up a bit from my brother and the other gamers in the tower. Plus, it isn't exclusive to esports."

While Cassie tried to digest suddenly being the odd one out in the conversation, Willow and Iris continued their side of it.

"Come on. You're a superhero. Enter as 'Facet the Titan' and the organizers will put you in an easy pool to get you on the jumbotron for viewership," Iris argued, "Fans will flock to see a heroine on stage."

"Okay, no," Willow chuckled, "Jumbotron is like saying I'll make it to top 8. I am nowhere near that skill level."

"Fine," Iris rolled her eyes, "Not the jumbotron, but you don't want to at least compete and see how much fun it is? Conrad says it's a blast."

Willow smirked at the second mention of her brother but didn't let it derail the conversation when Iris caught herself and blushed, "I guess I will. I'm sure you're right about the organizers giving me leverage as a heroine. I'll probably be put in a kiddy pool."

"Then we'll cheer for you if we see you on TV, right ladies?" Iris said as she looked to Mari and Cassie.

Mari smiled and nodded but Cassie muttered, "They broadcast it on TV?"

Iris huffed at her and Cassie chuckled sheepishly before nodding her head too.

The four girls jovially talked out the conversation and soon left their table. They were so absorbed in the conversation and finally getting Willow to talk that they didn't notice that she had barely touched her plate.

* * *

The four girls walked into the common room to an odd sight of Connor waiting with his arms crossed.

"Whats up Speedy?" Cassie greeted.

"One of you already knows what's up," he said narrowing his eyes at Iris.

"Why me?" She groaned at the accusatory glare. She tapped her foot nervously as she spoke.

"Don't play dumb," Connor shot back, "Only one other person can handle my dad's chili in this building besides me."

Iris' tapping became rapid, hammering into the floor under her. "I'm sorry!" She exploded, "We we're going to eat vegan and I needed a pick me up before going to get that rabbit food. No offense, Willow."

Willow just glanced at Iris' tapping foot and said, "Whatever you say, Thumper."

Connor sighed, "Just ask next time you want some, please. My dad doesn't mind making me more."

Willow turned to him with a grin, and opened her mouth.

"Family recipe, Willow," Connor cut her off and shrugged apologetically, "I'll ask again but my dad's a stickler for keeping it to the original, even for ethical diets."

Willow harrumphed and stalked over to the couch to sit down. Her ponytail seemed to gain a mind of its own and twitched up into an arc akin to a scorpion tail as she mumbled something about showing Green Arrow something else green and pointy.

"He's a bleeding heart liberal and he can't make a vegan version?" Cassie said, "That's like if Aquaman eats seafood."

Nightstar's lips quivered and she said, "He does eat seafood."

Willow stared at her aghast and hopped off the couch she just sat down on.

"All right. All of you are carnivorous traitors," she said while putting her nose so high in the air her bottom lip protruded and made everyone either roll their eyes or chuckle at her.

She let her head fall into a normal position and said, "I'm going to my room if anyone needs me. Wanna do some meditation."

They all bid her goodbye and soon she was in her quarters centering herself.

She chanted the mantra given to her by her mother, whom she could sense fussing with someone alongside her father and Cube in the basement.

"Probably still figuring out that suit," she thought and went back to her mantra.

The image came back into her mind and made her head swim. Even though she only saw the suit through a grainy street camera it still loomed over her.

She chanted faster, her breath becoming rapid. Her lotus position slouched and she chanted through clenched teeth.

A knock sounded on her door and she shot up.

"Willow?" Her twin called out with worry, "I can feel you like a storm. Are you okay?"

Willow made no move to answer.

Desiree sighed and put her forehead against the door and said, "I know you want to deal with this anxiety without us as support, but please don't block me out. I'm your twin, your other half. Your sister in arms and all of that mushy rom com bullshit."

A snort escaped Willow's throat at her twins rare use of coarse language and made Desiree giggle.

"See? You know you can't get rid of me," Desiree said.

"Of course I don't want to get rid of you," Willow admitted, "I just don't want all of my emotional problems to be sucked away and erased by our family empathy."

Willow crossed her room and opened the door. Her ragged expression was all Desiree needed to see.

"It's okay, sis," she said and wrapped Willow up in a hug, "That's what family does. With or without empathic powers."

"I know," Willow said, "But I'm still scared of the Church and whatever super zealot they send after us next."

Desiree squeezed her tighter, "Willow, you're repeating yourself. We know that's a possibility so mom, dad, Damian and maybe even the Justice League is going to chip in to stop the Church."

"I'm still scared," Willow repeated into her sister's shoulder.

"I am too," Desiree said and pursed her lips at Willow's almost rambling like statements. Yet she kept talking to reassure her twin, "You've been cooping yourself up in here too long."

Willow suddenly was a chicken in her arms and bawked at her.

"Yeah, that kinda coop, you numskull," Desiree chuckled and put the green chicken down on the floor, "Come on. Let's go see if we can bother mom and dad. I know you want to see them as much as I do."

As Desiree turned the corner into the hall Willow reverted to her human form and looked to her dresser by the door. On top of it was a small pile of her candy. She reached for one but hesitated. She clenched her extended hand into a fist and brought it down and followed her twin.

* * *

The twins entered the lower labs and saw Adonis' suit before anything else. Cube could have might as well not been standing in front of it analyzing it for however much they registered him. Desiree pried her eyes away and tugged her sister's arm to keep her from just staring at the visage of their grandfather, regardless of their mother having ripped the horns off.

Said mother was off to the side, not facing towards but not putting her back to, the mechanical demon, talking to Zatanna.

"I've tried every tracing spell and ritual I can think of. They went to great lengths to not be found," Zatanna said.

Raven cursed under her breath, "I figured we wouldn't get any location out of it. What are the chances of keeping Adonis or anyone with another suit like this as far from my family as possible?"

"I'm not sure. This is far from the Church of Blood's usual MO," Zatanna said with a hand to her forehead in worry, "To hire and supply a mercenary with anti demon equipment is something I haven't heard of many people doing. Especially when their previous plans hinged on you being taken alive or turned."

"I thought you took me down here to get comfort," Willow grumbled.

Desiree hushed her but the two adults already heard.

Zatanna looked a little apologetic for saying too much in front of Willow while their mother immediately turned and hovered over to the pair.

"I didn't even feel you come in," she said in slight surprise.

"I would have been impressed had you felt us with all of the rampant worry in here," Desiree said, waving her hand as if the emotion was a tangible smoke to fan away.

Raven fought to keep a mournful look off her face and turned to Willow. "You seem to be feeling enough as it is," she said.

Willow finally looked away from the suit straight into her mother's eyes and said, "I'm scared, Mom."

Raven descended to the floor, scooped Willow up in her arms and brought her as close as she could into her cloak. She hoped it would provide some sentiment of protection from the threats that hung over them.

"I know you are, but we have to be strong together," Raven said as she stroked the top of Willow's head, "They want us to fear them and we can't lose that first battle because there are sure to be more."

Willow nodded her head. The only sign she did so was her ponytail bobbing just in view from the separation in her mother's cloak.

"I know you want to spend some time with me, but I need to be here with Zatanna to keep you safe," Raven said as she knelt slightly to her daughter's height, "Why don't you take your father and go do something with him. I know he could use the break."

"Where is he?" Desiree asked, "I can tell he's in the room but not exactly where.

Raven smiled and released Willow from the hug and reached up into her hood, which now she was drawing attention to it the twins realized was being weighed down with something.

"We we're taking shifts on figuring out this suit and it was his turn for a nap, but I'm sure he would love to do something with you," Raven said as she pulled out a garden snake.

In its sleep it curled around her wrist and between her fingers, making Raven smile even more.

"Gar, someone is here to see you," She gently prodded and rubbed the snake under the chin with the tip of her finger.

The reptile slowly stirred and it's translucent brille uncovered its eyes. It's little head jolted up when it noticed the twins shoving their faces in front of it.

"Hi dad," they said in unison.

The snake uncoiled itself off of Raven's arm and fell to the floor. As it fell it turned into a human and Garfield landed.

"So, the pups want to play?" he greeted.

"Something like that," Desiree said and Willow walked up and hugged her father.

Garfield returned his daughter's embrace and turned to his wife. She nodded subtly. Garfield put on a determined face and hugged Willow tighter before lifting her up and putting her on his shoulders.

Willow giggled from atop her father and said, "Yeah! Go horsey!"

Taking it as a request Garfield turned into a stallion and made Willow laugh harder.

"All right. If you're going to do that you should go to the park, or at least outside," Raven said, affectionately patting the side of the horse's muzzle, "I'm sure grass will feel better than steel under your hooves."

Garfield whinnied in agreement and looked at his daughters, Desiree having joined her twin on her back. The two of them flared their hands out in front of them, Desiree reaching over her sister's shoulders, and an inky green portal opened in from of them.

"Mush!" Willow shouted and pointed forward.

Desiree rolled her eyes and said, "Wrong animaaah!"

Her word turned into a shout as her father galloped forward and into the void.

* * *

"Where's the rest of the Pack?" Garfield asked after they appeared on the other side. He slowed to a trot as he started his way to a nice shaded area under some trees.

"Ulrich is training with Ethan to make those powers of his resurface, Conrad is gaming with Iris," Desiree paused counting them off her fingers to chuckle, "Again."

Willow bent forward and rested her chin on the back of her father's neck and hugged him to stay on his back.

"Sesha's prolly somewhere with Jon hitting on him or just straight hitting him in a spar," she said into his mane.

"That poor boy," Garfield said with a chuckle.

In a swift motion their father was a human again and had the pair on his broad shoulders before they had time to even start falling.

"So what do these two lovely ladies want to do?" Garfield asked, making his daughters giggle.

"Cat and mouse?" Desiree asked.

"I'm a little tired to keep up with you two rascals," Garfield answered, "You caught me in the middle of a nap."

"He says as he bench presses us," Desiree said looking down and taking in the fact that he was carrying both of them with little to no effort.

"Oh yeah," Garfield said as if he just realized his feat.

"I mean . . . Ow! Ohhh, my back!" he said unconvincingly as he slowly fell to knees. He gently set his daughters on their feet, obviously compromising his act in order to not throw them to the ground before he layed down on it himself in fake pain.

Willow kicked him in the side lightly and said, "You can be an old man later."

"How old are the triplets?" Garfield asked as he stared blankly at the sky.

The twins looked at him oddly.

"Seventeen," Desiree said with an uncertain tone.

"I've been and old man for seventeen years!" Garfield said with the rasp of a senior citizen.

Willow mimes taking off a hat and held it to her chest, "He was a great dad."

"Great hero, too," Desiree said while mimicking her twins motion.

Willow made an indifferent 'eeeh' while shaking her hand in a 'kinda' motion. Garfield grumbled and sat up.

"But I'm not dead you little shits," Garfield said and turned into a mountain lion.

The twins laughed and turned into squirrels before scampering away.


	10. A White Christmas

While I apologize profusely for the tardiness. I don't care if it's past Christmas. I saw someone recently post a Halloween chapter so I have no shame, and you'll see why.

* * *

Willow, Desiree and Ethan sprinted down the dirt path to the humble ranch house. Behind them the triplets ran to keep up.

"Grandma Arella!" Willow shouted as she and her twin picked up speed.

Ethan started to trail behind but Sesha came up behind him and ducked under him to put him on her shoulders.

The door to the house opened and a woman that bore a remarkable resemblance to the woman that was regaining her breath from the teleportation she just accomplished behind the sprinting teens came into view.

"My grand babies!" the woman greeted and walked out to meet the twins.

They collided in a hug that would have looked painful if one didn't see the magic that had cushioned the impact.

"Merry Christmas, grandma!" the twins shouted.

"Merry Christmas, darlings. It's so good to see you!" Arella said.

A few seconds later the rest of the siblings caught up and joined in the hug. From Sesha's shoulders Ethan bent down to hug their heads, which got a laugh.

"Did anyone beat us here?" Conrad asked.

Arella nodded and said, "Your great aunt and cousins. The Doom Patrol isn't here yet."

"Aww. I wanna see Cliff," Sesha groaned. Ethan scrambled from atop her shoulders and Sesha winced.

"All right. All right!" Sesha shouted and took a knee to let her brother run off into the house.

"So, how're the animals?" Ulrich asked conversationally.

Arella hummed contently and turned to let the rest of them into the house as she spoke, "They have been quite happy this year. Taking care of animals has a meditative quality that you can't even get on Azarath."

"You must tell me your secret, mother," Raven said as she and her husband finally caught up, "I don't ever feel like I'm meditating while taking care of this bunch."

Arella laughed as her grandchildren wore looks of incredulity or offence. Garfield chuckled as well and said, "It takes a village."

Raven turned to him and gave him a peck on the cheek, "I never said 'we', love."

As Garfield took on a similar look as his children a new voice spoke up.

"Still as scathing as ever."

"Mary-Beth," Raven greeted her cousin, who has just walked out onto the porch, "It's been too long."

The two women shared a quick hug as Mary-Beth responded, "Too true! You almost fell off the face of the planet after I heard you taking on that freak with the suit."

Willow flinched at the mention of Adonis and Desiree put a hand on her shoulder. Conrad clutched a hand to his chest in what looked like pain and Sesha turned her head to bare her fangs off to the side and not anyone in particular. Ulrich looked at his siblings reactions and hung his head with his hands in his pockets.

Mary-Beth put a hand to her mouth, seeing the reactions too, and glanced at her cousin. Raven sighed quietly and shook her head slightly.

"It's alright," Raven assured, "He's just a weakling in a over priced tin can."

"I still owe him a good smack down," Sesha growled.

"I saw what he did to you on the news," Mary-Beth said, clearly distraught over it, "How do you do it?"

Sesha looked over at her and shrugged, "I just figure that if I can take that punishment and walk away then only I should. I don't want anyone else to get hurt when I could have been their shield."

Merry-Beth smiled at her nonchalant selflessness and said, "You're such a hero. All of you are."

"I wouldn't go that far. We're just trying our best," Willow said while scratching the back of her neck.

"That's still more than a lot of people," Mary-Beth said than waved them inside, "Come. My parents and brother and sister will be delighted that you're here."

* * *

The group walked inside and settled in with the family that had already arrived. It was full of hugs and sideways glances at Sesha whenever Raven's aunt, Alice, made a more religious statement.

It was made all the more awkward when it was made apparent that Raven's youngest cousin was very pointedly ignoring the Logans. Jessica refused to join any conversation or even look at any of the Logan teens.

" _Does she really still have that big a chip on her shoulder?"_ Willow asked into their heads.

" _I guess so,"_ Conrad thought with a mental sigh, " _Even our family can turn their nose at our blood."_

" _Don't think like that,"_ Desiree though, " _She's family. She'll come around."_

" _I won't,"_ Sesha thought bluntly.

She continued though her siblings' protests and thought, " _She came at us with a cross and holy water. You can go on about how many years ago it was but she's only drunk more of the Kool-Aid sense then. She may have apologized but she never made an effort to even_ be _family."_

No one gave a rebuttal and the mental conversation ended as they turned their attention to the verbal one.

"They should be here any minute. They had to check out an alert and they're now coming down from their sub orbit flight," Garfield said as he looked at his communicator.

"Doom Patrol's almost here?" Sesha asked with excitement.

"'Bout ten minutes," Garfield said with a grin, obviously also excited. He clicked a button on the device to put it into sleep mode and pocketed it.

The last of Raven's cousins, Billy, watched as he did so.

"Do you use that to stay in contact with all of your teams?" He asked.

Garfield raised a brow at him before answering, "Yeah. Keeps me in contact with the Patrol, the League and of course the Titans. Homing beacon and everything. It also acts like a satellite phone when I call my personal contacts."

"Cool," Billy said in awe, "I wanna help make that stuff too one day."

Raven perked up as if remembering something, "Mary-Beth said you were studying engineering in college, right? Do you want to work on the Watchtower?"

Billy huffed out a breath and looked up into the air, in the direction that Raven couldn't help but notice that was the general area where the Watchtower would be orbiting at that moment.

"That would be awesome," Billy said, "Ever since I met you, Raven, I've wanted to do my part to help fight crime. You really inspired me with when you saved our sister."

Garfield chuckled while his wife's cheeks colored slightly.

"Maybe we can pull a few strings," he said, "Rae and I may not work in the tech side but I can ask Cyborg."

"Really?" Billy said, "I'm just a semester away from my degree."

"Then give us a call when you have it." Raven said.

Arella looked out the window at the grazing cows and chickens that populated her ranch.

"Could we, perhaps, go find a clearing for the Doom Patrol to land in?" Arella asked, "I didn't much fancy the way my poor animals were spooked by that rocket contraption last time."

* * *

The family waited in a clearing a few miles out, having been teleported by Raven with the help of some of the teens.

Willow's ears perked and she looked up to the sky, her eyes widening to the size of dinner plates. Before anyone could ask her what was wrong the scream of jet engines pushing an aircraft past the sound barrier started to make itself heard.

"Here they come," Garfield said, looking up at the sky and shielding his eyes from the sun.

The Doom Patrol's personal aircraft soared overhead and started to make a decent, slowing down from super sonic.

Arella peeled her hands away from her ears and said, "Ah. I remember now. I also had to replace a few windows."

"That house is ancient, mother," Raven said, "I may prefer antiques, but it was due for a few upgrades, lest it fall apart."

The family banter continued behind Willow as she slowly walked up to where the plane was starting to land. She had a grin plastered on her face and her eyes never left the aircraft even when it had disappeared over the trees for its bank to descend.

Finally the plane touched down and began to lower its ramp. The moment the hydronic hissed to begin their function, Willow was sprinting to the aircraft.

"Aaaaaaahh!" Willow screamed over the engines that had yet to turn quiet.

Desiree looked at her twin in utter confusion and Sesha scratched her head.

"What has her so excited?" Conrad asked.

"I don't know. I haven't seen her like that sense we went to Evo last year." Desiree said.

From the ramp the Doom Patrol walked down. Steve, Rita, Cliff, and Larry looked a little surprised at Willow sprinting up the ramp to meet them.

"Hi Steve! Rita! Cliff! Larry!" Willow said in quick succession with a hug with each greeted member. Each member in turn tried to greet the girl but she was too much a blur.

"Hello, Willow. You've grown so much!" Rita said as she held the ecstatic young Titan before she moved on to the next member.

"You seem chipper. Even for Christmas around the corner," Cliff said. He patted Willow on the head and even her ponytail being disheveled didn't lessen her smile.

"Yeah!" She shouted.

Even through all of her hugging and greeting she still never took her eyes off of a distant point within the ship.

Steve looked at her curiously and then to Garfield and Raven. They returned the look with uncertain eyes.

"Is there something else on your mind, Willow?" Steve asked.

"I think our cargo has been discovered," Larry said, crossing his bandaged arms.

"Do you see them, Willow?" Steve asked, humming curiously when she nodded vigorously in response.

"Then go," Rita chuckled, "You look ready to jump out of your skin from excitement."

Willow was off in a streak of green the moment the words were out of Rita's mouth.

"What's on here that has her so high strung?" Sesha asked as the rest of the family walked up to the ship.

"You'll see soon enough. I didn't know that Willow would be able to sense it," Steve said with a small smile. However his eyes bore into Garfield's with a silent message. A look that was met with a mix of understanding and perplexity.

The two families exchanged pleasantries and hugs, or in Sesha and Cliff's case a fist bump that resulted in Cliff checking to see if his hand had any dents, with the Doom Patrol until a shout echoed from within the ship.

"I thought you were stuck on that research trip! Who cares! You're here! Aaaah!"

The Logan teens' eyes all widened just as Willow's did when the ship had first come into view. From around a corner Willow was dragging a pair, a male and female, that looked to be in their forties.

"No way!" Sesha said and ran towards the trio, Desiree close behind as she squealed.

The boys were slower in their approach but had the same gleeful shock on their faces.

Both wore researcher like gear that looked like they were plucked from an expedition with their knees and arms scraped, fresh bug bites and muddy boots. Both had striking blue eyes and blonde hair.

"We were able to find time. We had a breakthrough with one of our projects that finally persuaded our sponsors to let us take a vacation," the female said.

"Really think they should just let you have Christmas off. It's just rude to make you work through it," Willow said.

Raven was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that Willow has so effortlessly sensed what she couldn't. She understood Steve's silent message and made a mental note to discuss it later.

"That's just corporate work sometimes," the male said, "We make the vaccines while they pay us and make the big bucks selling them. Not much room for us to barter our free time."

"And they can't just stop saving lives with their work, now can they?" Garfield said.

The Logan teens surrounded the pair in a flurry of green that settled into a group hug that had the blondes struggling to share themselves with all of them. When the teens finally stepped away, the woman walked up to Raven and, after a quick hug, took her hands in her own.

"I'm so glad we were able to come," she said.

Raven quickly glanced at the ring on the woman's index finger, so pristine and flawless a white it was as if was forged from light itself, and to Willow, who was still vibrating from excitement, clutching the man's right hand that bore an identical ring to the woman's.

"I can think of no more pleasant surprise," Raven greeted the pair then stepped aside so her husband could walk up to embrace the two.

"Hey mom. Hey dad. Merry Christmas."

* * *

"I don't want to go into this now, Mento. It's the holidays," Raven said as she waved off the head of the Doom Patrol leader. She was nursing a mug of tea and looking out the window to the yard.

"We agreed that things of this nature can't wait," Steve said, "Willow detected Marie and Mark when they specifically didn't want to be detected. You can't even detect Green Lanterns when they're going stealth, let alone White Lanterns."

"I understand the implications," Raven responded as she clutched the cup, "but I would care to not have the conversation in such an exposed area."

As she spoke Mark ran through the yard with a group of green animals hanging off of him while he laughed. Steve was quiet for a moment as he looked hard at the window separating them from the person of interest, currently a potoo on her grandfather's shoulder, and silently wished the antique house to be more sound proof.

Beside Raven, the sink clattered as a mug was deposited in it.

"Thanks for the tea, mom," Ethan said before running back around the corner and outside to join his siblings. After he was back outside Raven turned to Steve with a knowing look on her face.

Steve sighed, "I see your point."

* * *

"This is barely anything to worry about," Marie said as she looked at the white ring on her finger, "I don't see how her sensing us through our rings' veil is something to call a meeting for."

"You may not think so, but any little thing the rugrats do could be something worth having a chat about," Constantine said as he poked at ethereal fires.

He was crouched in front of a fireplace centered on the far wall of a grand gathering room of a Victorian looking estate. It was dark, rustic and gloomy with trinkets and tomes on the tall bookshelves that brought Garfield back to the days when Raven's choice of decor still unnerved him.

Besides the fireplace the only source of light were large wax candles affixed to what Garfield hoped were fake skulls with sharp teeth.

The House of Mystery would always creep him out.

He sat in on of the red velvet loveseats with his wife and his parents in another. Steve was standing amongst the chairs and faced the fireplace like the two pairs of Logans. Arella sat in the chair closest to her daughter. Zatanna stood near the fireplace with a sense of being the hostess of the occasion and giving Constantine sideways glances as he uncaringly poked the magical fire that very well didn't need to be poked.

Zatanna nodded and looked to the younger Logans and asked, "What details do you remember?"

"Before we even heard the ship Willow was already excited beyond having just sensed the Doom Patrol," Raven explained, "I could sense the Doom Patrol, but had you told me anyone else was on the ship I would have believed it impossible."

"She even kept her eyes on them through the tree line," Arella said.

"We we're slowing down from Mach speed. Even at the ship's slower speeds she had to have locked onto their location from at least a few thousand meters with us traveling at hundreds of meters a second," Steve surmised and turned to the elder Logans, "The minimal human presence and the very familiar and unique signatures from you two may have given her some ease but it is still quite a feat."

Mark and Marie clasped each other's hands and Mark spoke, "With all of that in perspective it does sound like Willow has gotten stronger."

"So she's got a fancier emotion radar," Constantine said, "That's not exactly gonna melt faces like the littlest demon almost did."

The fire he was still poking kept from the logs and the flames licked his face. Constantine, however, didn't flinch.

"They ain't real," he said as he stood and turned to look at Raven, "You're gonna hafta try harder then that, birdy."

Raven sneered at the unshaven man, "I can easily send you to the deepest corners of Hell."

Constantine shrugged, "I've gotten out of worse scraps."

"That you put yourself in in the first place," Raven said.

"You need to watch your tongue about my grandchildren," Arella interjected, "I've faced Trigon and stood my ground. I've heard you can't say the same."

Constantine turned to Arella and said, "Was that before or after he-"

"Don't you dare go there!" Raven roared, "I've known you to be intolerable at times, Constantine, but you will not cross a line that I will make you regret!"

"Bloody hell," Constantine said, "If only it wasn't like I was on in a ball and chain in this situation then I wouldn't act a chav."

"Like I said. You put yourself here and you're paying your dues," Raven growled at him.

Constantine sighed and fell silent.

"We'll update Robin and have this added to the log," Garfield said as he stood up, trying his best to alleviate the tension and helping his wife up as well, "He may be an ass about it but Constantine is right. We don't need to fuss too much over this one. It's not nearly as groundbreaking as Ethan's latest."

The other occupants followed suit, thankful that the subject matter was as inconsequential as a stronger sensory ability.

Zatanna lead them all to the front door of the mansion and opened it, leading to the living room of Arella's ranch house.

In one of the chairs Rita sat waiting silently with a mug in her hands.

"Thank you, Zatanna, and Merry Christmas," Raven said, switching to a softer volume for the sleeping residents of the hose after stepping back into her mother's abode.

"Thanks, Raven. You too." Zatanna said with a smile, "One of these days we'll get together without something looming over us."

"Saying stuff like that is asking for it with our line of work," Garfield said.

Zatanna chuckled and bid the other residents goodbye and disappeared after swinging the door shut, leaving behind an otherwise uninteresting wall where the entrance once was.

"Your mugs didn't even get cold," Rita said softly with a smile, referring to the still steaming cups on the table in the center of the room.

"It wasn't much to discuss," Garfield said with a shrug.

Raven walked over to the couch closest to the fireplace and crouched low next to a sleeping teen laying on it. Almost in arms reach on the brick of the fireplace was a plate of cookies and a glass of milk, personally milked by his grandmother from one of the cows sleeping as contently in the barn outside as the boy on the couch.

She brushed the blonde locks out of Ethan's sleeping face and sighed. "I just wish for a safe holiday," Raven said.

Beside her a crunch was heard and she looked to see her husband munching on one of the cookies.

"Garfield, those aren't for you," Marie whispered.

Regardless of having been caught Garfield finished the cookie as Raven took the blanket that was thrown over the back for just such an occasion and draped it over their youngest child.

"Let's go to bed. I just hope Mr. Claus doesn't leave you some coal for taking his treat," Raven said.

"Aww, common, Rae. You know the big guy will be giving it all to Darkseid," Garfield said.

The family started to filter up the stairs as quietly as possible, mindful of the sleeping teens in the house. Unbeknownst to them a rustle of snow and bells came from the chimney causing Ethan to smile in his sleep.

* * *

Meanwhile in the darkest reaches of the multiverse a rather large lump of coal sat in a palm of a rather large hand. After a snort of indifference the hand clenched around the coal and it was turned to dust.

"One of these years you will fail, old man," Darkseid growled.

* * *

No joke the last few lines with Darkseid are canon.

I know the ending is bad and like hitting a wall but it's already super late as it is and I have an entire thing that this leads into that I already wrote up with this chapter actually gaining story significance unlike the crappy Halloween thing I did. This was originally going to be an irrelevant side story that I would post separately but I got a wave of inspiration.

Also, no joke, the last few lines with Darkseid are canon.

Either way I am super sorry to my followers. Life hit me pretty hard again. So hard I quit my job (that's a whole story), moved ( _that's_ a whole story) and reapplied to college. Yeah, it was topsy turvy for a bit. You might have also noticed that I changed the rating. Mostly because I believe that M is way too harsh a rating when I don't explain gore or have any actual explicit sex. A few jokes, words and a bit of blood is nothing that I wouldn't bar my 13 year old sister from reading which was the final straw in wanting to expand the viewbase beyond people that actually expand the rating filter that far.

So if I do get an influx of readers then I encourage you to tell me what you think! This brainchild is my pride and joy so please review and thanks to all of the followers and reviews so far!


	11. Fight or Fright

Anyone who was subbed I'm double sorry. I lagged a fare bit and then took this chapter down shortly after posting it. I have to say it was for the best though with the massive story correction I did here. Anyways here is the chapter!

* * *

Robin tensed his hands, his full mental capabilities honed on defeating his opponent. He wouldn't lose, he couldn't lose. He was the son of Batman and no one would see him weak.

"Fuck!" Willow shouted and threw her controller to the ground.

"You can't beat me," Robin said with confidence befitting the son of the Bat.

"I almost had you!" Willow said with a finger in his face.

Damian looked at the screen and saw the 'Perfect' plastered in gold on it.

"Yeah," he said with disbelief, "You almost got a hit in."

Willow kicked the controller on the floor with a huff and said, "So much for having any chance at Evo."

Damian narrowed his masked eyes at her, "It was a few losses against someone who has years of experience on you. Admitting defeat at that isn't befitting of a Titan."

"Really?" Willow said with an exasperated groan, "Gonna pull that on me for a game?"

"Are you really going to show weakness over something as insignificant as a game?" Damian pressed, "Vigilante or video gamer there is promise in putting effort into anything you do. Especially if it improves reactions, problem solving and situational awareness."

"I get it. Games don't melt people's brains like moms around the globe like to say," Willow waved him off, "But does a game really garner the speech?"

"When it comes to how you've been acting lately, I feel I should pull you up from the hole you've been digging for yourself before you get comfortable in it. Now show me the will of a Titan and get up," Robin said and pointed at the controller Willow had kicked.

"So that's why you asked me to play," Willow grumbled and picked up her controller.

"Yes," Damian said as they started another round, "Though I'll admit I'm not the most capable in acting out a solution for your anxiety."

Willow pumped a fist and Damian scoffed after she landed a hit and lead it into a combo.

"Yeah! Suck it bird boy! I, uh," she stumbled as she registered what he had said, "Thanks, uhh, for trying?"

Damian hurumfed before he finished off another combo to seal the round in his favor.

"Fuck!" Willow shouted.

* * *

Damian lead Willow through the boom tube exit. Willow was still giggling at Damian's disguise of a biker jacket over a red tee and jeans. He shot her a glare from over his sunglasses that only served to make her giggle harder and walked from the alleyway into the city of their destination.

Willow brushed her fingers over her holo necklace before stepping out after him.

"Wait, what are we doing here?" Willow asked as they walked down the street.

"Where here to pick up a member of a team I'm putting together for a mission," Damian said.

"Ooooh. Am I one of those members?" Willow asked with glee.

Damian only gave her a nod without taking his eyes away from where he was walking.

"I recognize this town," Willow mused.

"You should," Damian said, "You recently went to a restaurant in the area."

"You knew?" Willow asked in slight shock, "What am I saying. Course you knew."

Willow slapped his shoulder and Damian stopped to glare at her again. When Willow only smiled in return he tisked and continued to walk, "Just keep up, Logan."

* * *

Jessica smiled wearily and said, "Hello! Welcome to- Damian?!"

The name came out like a hushed shout as the young man looked at her from over his sunglasses.

"Hello, Ms. Cruz," Damian greeted, "I had hoped to visit your home but you weren't there."

"I was called in," Jessica said weakly, "But I do get off in about thirty minutes."

Damian nodded, "I hope you can make time for us when you do."

"Us?" Jessica asked with even less enthusiasm.

Willow popped out from behind Damian, slightly startling the woman, "Green lady?"

Jessica's eyes widened and she put her left hand over her right to fiddle with what Willow assumed was a ring.

"I don't think we've meet," Jessica said.

"Oh yeah, I wasn't wearing my holo-" Willow started but was cut off by Damian grabbing her arm.

"So I'll properly introduce her when you're free," Damian interjected while dragging Willow away.

After the pair walked off Jessica blinked and stared off after them for a moment.

"Weird kid with stalker like tendencies. I wish he took after Dick more than Bruce," Jessica muttered as she watched the pair walk away and sit in a corner booth.

 _"What did you mean by Green Lady?"_ Damian demanded in thought after scratching his head in the set signal to establish a mental connection.

Willow shrugged, _"I dunno. The vibe I got from her was green so I called her green lady."_

 _"Vibe?"_ Damian prodded.

 _"I can't describe it more than that. She's green to me so that's why I called her that,"_ Willow said with another shrug.

 _"She's not just green,"_ Damian thought as he crossed his arms, _"She's a Green Lantern."_

 _"She's a GL? Really?"_ Willow thought back with her eyes widening, _"Are you gonna show me Saint Walker with a sign that says 'The end is here!' on it too?"_

Damian brushed off the remark and became thoughtful, _"You're an empath, and Lanterns attain their power from the Emotional Spectrum. I had a hunch that your empathy would be able to make the connection."_

 _"Is that why I'm on this missi- Wait! GLs are on the Justice League. I'm going to be working with the Justice League!?"_ Willow squealed.

 _"You do all the time, technically,"_ Damian said after rubbing his tremble from her mental volume.

 _"Mom and Dad don't count,"_ Willow said.

Willow glanced back at the woman at the register. She was obviously on the verge of breaking and scrambling into a corner just from a man that seemed to be flirting with her.

 _"She's fearless?"_ Willow asked.

 _"Not fearless. She has the ability to overcome great fear,"_ Damian corrected, _"She may be scared out of her mind half the time but it's her pushing past it that gives her the power to do the impossible. To wear the ring."_

Willow raised a brow at him and commended, _"That's high praise coming from you."_

 _"She is one of my fathers coworkers,"_ Damian tought bluntly.

Willow chuckled at the code talk for the Justice League and looked back to Jessica. She watched as Jessica fumbled to work the register with nervous hands. She looked to be trying to explain to the flirtatious man that she was clocking out, judging by how she was edging away from the counter and fiddling with her tag.

Soon enough the meek woman was without her tag and heading over to sit with the two Titans.

"So you're Willow? One of Raven and Garfield's daughters?" She asked.

Willow scooted to the side to let Jessica have a seat next to her. As Jessica sat down Willow said, "Yeah. How did you know?"

"We've only meet briefly a few times after, uh, we became coworkers. While I may be too busy with work or," Jessica fiddled with the ring on her finger, "my hobbies too much to socialize, you and your siblings are your parents' pride and joy."

Willow giggled at the unintentional pun and had the mental image of her and her siblings as lions.

"So what brings you guys here in the first place?" Jessica asked.

Damian sighed and adjusted the sunglasses back up his nose, "Excuse us for not getting to the point. We're here so you may join Willow and I on a mission."

"Mission?" Jessica asked, perplexed, "Why not just call me?"

Damian lifted his cell phone to show her the screen. On it was a map where a few small blinking symbols were present. One was and an oval with an "R" situated right next to a green gem with a cut that gave it a jagged, savage surface.

Far off from the two on the map was another symbol a solid white circle with another hollow green circle and two green parallel tangent lines on the top and bottom of it that formed the rough image of a lantern.

Jessica patted herself all over and checked her pockets. She then groaned when she failed to produce a cell phone.

Suddenly the screen on Damian's phone darkened and he put it too his ear.

"What is it father?"

The two females were instantly intrigued by the conversation the son of the Bat was having.

"I had hoped he wouldn't move that fast," Damian sighed and continued, "But at least my hypothesis on Willow was correct. She can help us."

Willow and Jessica looked at one another in shock. Both heroines knew of how little Batman asked for help.

"Wait. Hypothesis?" Willow asked. Jessica shrugged helplessly, just as confused as her.

Damian stood from his seat and looked pointedly at the two females and jabbed a finger into the table. A silent order to stay.

As he left the restaurant Willow stuck her tongue out at him as he left. When she turned back to face her table partner she saw that Jessica's face was on the table.

"Why so glum?" Willow asked.

"I forgot my cell at home," Jessica whined, "Now I can't play Pokemon Go until I get it back."

Willow squealed, "You play Pokemon?"

Jessica jumped but she quickly smiled once she turned to see the vibrant grin on the younger female's face.

"I've only played the first gen," Jessica said with a smile but with a stutter that showed she was still a bit nervous, "I wanted to play the newer ones so I reintroduced myself through an app that would, um, get me off my butt and outside."

Willow smiled even wider and she stuck her hand into a portal under the table. Willow pulled out and flipped her 3DS open and turned it on.

"You and I are gonna have some fun," Willow said.

* * *

"Wait, so they're from a different dimension? Thats crazy!" Jessica said as she leaned over Willow's shoulder to look at the two small screens in her hands.

"There are heroes who have traveled the multiverse and through time yet you think this is crazy?" Willow shot back with a jovial grin and tone.

"You have a point," Jessica said with a smile.

Damian chose that moment to walk back to the table watch the fast forming friends for a few moments with a small expectant smile on his face. Even he had trouble keeping up with their rapid conversation of Willow getting Jessica up to speed with all of the new mechanics and Pokemon with other various banter of Jessica's opinions on the additions or asking if it was possible for Willow to turn into the many critters on the screen.

Willow laughed, "I will admit that I've tried a few times to turn into a green Pikachu, but I think Sesha would have a better time with that."

"I'm sure you would be able to do some kind of psychic or dark type stuff," Jessica said.

Willow only laughed again and shrugged.

"Time to go, Dame?" Willow asked without looking up from the game.

The grin on his face vanished and he grunted out for them to follow him and he lead them outside and back towards the secluded hidden boom tube entrance.

"Dame?" Jessica whispered to Willow, who followed without even taking her face from out from behind the 3DS.

"I like getting under his skin," Willow said with a chuckle, "Especially when I know I'm on a mission with him."

Jessica giggled as well and said, "I like you, kid."

Willow looked up from the game for the first time after turning it on. Then she shoved the small gaming console into her hands.

"Wait, what?" Jess asked, "Why are you-"

"To play it, of course!" Willow said, "And don't worry about my save file. I already got both versions so I won't lose anything I haven't already traded to my other cartridge."

"You would let me override your save?" Jessica asked with a squeak in her voice.

"I like you, kid," Willow reiterated as she swung her finger at Jessica. Then she turned to stand beside Damian as he readied the boom tube.

Before she could take a step a pair of arms wrapped around her and stopped her. Willow turned her head to get a faceful of Jessica's long chocolate hair.

"Uuum. I'm sorry," Jessica said as her grip slackened, "Too much?"

Willow responded by returning the hug in force and actually lifting Jess off the ground for a second. After they separated Willow spoke.

"Not at all," she said, "We're friends, not coworkers."

Damian cleared his throat and the pair looked over to him.

"Facet," Damian said, "My gear, please."

"Oh!" Willow started and flared her hands out.

A void opened by her and she dug her hand in before flinging her arm from it and toward Damian. He caught the garment and with a flick of his wrist a dark cape flowed around him and, after a series of whirring sounds and clicks of small mechanics tightening into place, Robin replaced Damian.

Jessica clenched her ringed fist. A green aura cascaded down her form and a black and green skin tight bodysuit was now in the place of her work attire. He stature changed noticeably to have her chest puffed out and showcase the Green Lantern emblem emblazoned on her sternum. A slightly transparent green lantern symbol encircling her right eye did nothing to mare her confident expression.

Willow took off her necklace and tossed it into the same void. Her skin returned to its normal mint green color and her clothes vanished to reveal her hero attire under the illusion.

"How many times it take to get that down pat without snagging a finger in a zipper or something?" Willow asked Robin with a cheeky grin.

"As if I would tell you," Robin answered.

"You would just say, 'First try!'" Willow said making her voice deep with the impression.

Anyone could see him roll his eyes under his mask and he activated the secret door to let them into the boom tube.

"Just behave yourself," Robin said.

Willow snickered as the boom tube charged up and swallowed the trio.

Then she had to muffle her scream with her hands when the Watchtower came into existence around them.

"Try to contain your excitement," A familiar voice said from besides the landing platform.

"Mom?"

Raven stood alongside Batman, obviously waiting for them. Willow immediately ran over and hugged her mother, smiling the whole stretch of bridge. When she broke away from the hug her eyes fell on the Dark Knight.

"Hello Mr Batman," she said, her voice thick with uncertainty.

Batman's stone face broke a for a fraction of a second to smirk at the unnecessary formality, "No need for honorifics, Facet. We're all heroes on the Watchtower."

Willow quickly looked between him and the viewports that faced the spinning blue planet below them. After pushing down another squeal behind her hands she said, "Not to question anyone's decision to bring me here, but, uh."

"Why did we bring you here?" Batman reiterated after she trailed off.

"That was my decision," Robin said, "The mission that we are taking has use for an empath."

Willow gestured to her mother beside her and said, "Dude, you got one of the best already. So what do I add to the equation?"

"Because this requires tracking," Robin explained, "While your mother does excel in sensing emotions and many variants of them to her advantage you displayed one that was always hypothesised but never definitively seen. You were able to determine, even without realizing it, that Ms. Cruz was a Green Lantern."

Willow blinked a few times and looked at the ring on Jessica's finger and back to Robin. "And now you need me to find another Green Lantern?"

"Not green," Robin said, "My father said he is tracking the source of breakouts of seemingly random bouts of fear driven madness."

"After narrowing down the commonalities of each victim I found that they all visited a website just before turning hysterical and lashing out," Batman explained, "When I delved into the code I found that it displayed an unusual light. A yellow light."

"Oh no," Jessica breathed, "Why yellow?"

"While I had my suspicions of who was behind the attacks, given how they were centered in Gotham. I had only then realized how," the Dark Knight finished.

"Scarecrow?" Willow asked, almost rhetorically, "The scary dude who has a giant scythe and fear gas? Is that who I think your talking about?"

"Yes," Batman said, "and he somehow managed to display the yellow light from the Sinestro Corps from a computer screen. He obviously still fantasizes having that power he had during the Darkest Night."

"Okay," Willow held up her hands, "Now I am questioning why you brought me here."

"You will be a valuable asset in tracking Scarecrow in the same fashion you had a hunch that Jessica was a Green Lantern," Robin said.

"I didn't know I could do that until you told me the GL was a GL!" Willow whined.

"What does that mean, Willow," Raven said with the patience honed from motherhood.

"Green lady was a Green Lantern," Willow summarized quickly with some wind taken out of her sails, "Either way did you forget why we went to see her? My fear and anxiety? And you want to throw me at one of the worst super villains to have that kind of baggage at his terminal?"

"You obviously won't be directly engaging him," Robin said, "You wouldn't have even come had I not seen the potential in testing this power of yours."

"Can't you ask one of my bro's or sis' instead?" Willow asked dejectedly.

"They might not even possess the same tracking ability as you," Robin surmised, "Regardless, they have their hands full dealing with an earthquake threatening Jump Bay that occurred while we were picking up Lantern Cruz."

Willow cried as she shook her fist at the slowly spinning blue orb out the window, "Curse you, plate tectonics!"

Raven put an arm around her daughter's shoulder in reaffirmation.

"Crane has made himself scarce and the nature of the program has made it difficult to track," Batman said, "From a programming standpoint it is merely a virus that displays a yellow light but it's like it's taken a life of its own and we can't crack it. Not even Cyborg can break through. Our only option, before he starts spreading it across a larger population like malware, is to find the source, and we may need your help."

Willow looked up at the Dark Knight, perplexed at the Justice League, or even the Batman, needing her help.

"I know this may seem like a lot," Raven said to her daughter, "but my empathy came up with nothing when I tried scanning Gotham myself. Robin suggested you might have a better chance."

Willow looked at her mother for a beat and then clapped her hands together resolutely. She rubbed them together while saying, "Then let's do this."

* * *

Willow flew low above the crude, clustered brick buildings of Gotham City. She let her hood stay up and kept her hands clutching the material of her cloak so it billowed behind her instead of wiping around like it would had she not clutched it against the winds of her speedy leaps.

She had been doing so for a good hour or two so far. Or was it three? She was having too much fun pretending to be a member of the Bat family to care. She had heard that Clayface had been rehabilitated into being a force for good after the discovery that the malleability of his frontal lobe was what caused him to lose empathy with those that he hurt. If Basil could reign in his mud manipulating powers to be a long standing member then surely she could at least pretend for a few minutes.

Over the dilapidated buildings came the musk of the unclean streets and the turmoil of the citizens that lived on them.

Willow scrunched her nose at it all, trying to ascertain whatever it was she was looking for. It was hard going off of the few times she had actually used it. With Jessica and with Saint Walker, but every time the alien comes to talk with her mother, preaching about hope, that he was a practically a blue lighthouse.

He probably wasn't a good control for testing this sensory ability of hers.

The misery was so palpable that it was almost wading through a swamp of emotion. Vines made of depression and sludge made of apathy slowed her down physically.

 _"Why couldn't he hide out in the nicer parts of Gotham?"_ Willow thought to herself, _"As scarce as they are."_

"Have you gotten anything, Facet?" Batman's voice said in her ear.

Willow scratched her head and craned her neck as if the action would expound her ability to sense the villain they were looking for.

"I'm not getting anything. Not even a whiff of the fear gas," Willow answered.

"You shouldn't," Batman said some force of authority, "Regardless of what it would do to you if you were exposed to it, it's odorless."

"To humans. Do you know about animals?" Willow said with a grin.

"That is something we are not going to test in the field," Batman said, "Head north."

Just as that order filtered through her earbud com a sleek black bat themed jet rocketed overhead and veered south.

Willow watched it soar almost silently over the residential portion of the city, "Was that you, Batman? Or-"

"Me," Robin answered, "I'm scanning for any trace of Crain's toxin or any spikes on the power grid required to sustain the amount of servers it takes to run whatever number of systems he might be using. If I find anything of concern I'll hail you. You hail us if you find anything yourself and do not engage anything suspicious."

"I'm on it, dude!" Willow shouted and headed off in the opposite direction of the jet.

* * *

"Nothing! Seriously?!"

Willow dangled her legs off the side of yet another Gotham abode. Her aggravation shielded her from the irritation of the old brick on her bare thighs or maybe it was just her morphing scales to protect them.

The building seemed to be a store sign business. A mix of various neon and LED lights filled the street she looked down on. She had been searching for a solid hour and was still coming up empty handed. She was starting to wonder if the Scarecrow had set up whatever rig of computers he needed in a different city.

"Nah. Every villain here has a fetish for staying in Gotham," Willow surmised. Then she flung her hood over her head far enough to cover her eyes and continued with a deep fake husk in her voice, "To fight Batman!"

She hopped to her feet and put a finger to her ear. "I'm finding squat. Should we change up how we're looking for this guy?"

"Or maybe you could just use some help," a voice said behind her.

Willow jumped and turned. Whatever scream she was about to utter died when she saw her twin standing on the rooftop with her.

"Sweet Azar, Dez, when the hell did you get here from Jump?" Willow asked.

"Not too long ago, actually," Desiree said as she walked up, "Robin called us up after you started having trouble finding Scarecrow."

"Us?" Willow asked.

"Of course, us," Sesha said as she appeared beside Willow, clapping her on the back hard enough to shove her forward, "After shouting in Robin's ear enough to make it bleed about leaving you alone in Gotham of all cities he let us come out."

"I don't care what he said about that whole sensory thing," Conrad said from the rooftop door he was leaning against, "We stick together."

 _"Facet? Why have you stopped?"_

"It only makes sense for us to work as a unit to find this guy," Ulrich said.

A red figure rose up from the aged and moldy rooftop they all stood on. Willow sparred it a glance and was for whatever reason unfazed by the odd phenomenon of the plaster moving aside like clay for the hulking monolith of metal.

"What's that?" Willow asked lamely as she pointed at the newcomer.

Her father ignored the question.

 _"Facet?! Do you read me?!"_

"With all of us here we'll find him no problem," Garfield said, paying no mind to the giant red gauntlet wrapping itself around his head.

Ethan hopped from behind their father, like an actor waiting for a que. He looked from Willow up to their father. Or at least where Garfield would be had the red monster not picked him up and thrown him against the wall with a sickening crack.

Willow's breath left her body at the sight.

 _"Facet is unresponsive! Vitals and fear responses spiking! Possible contact with Scarecrow! Converge on her location!"_

Sesha walked up to the empty space that their father no longer occupied and punched the air where his shoulder would have been. "Have you fought this guy before, dad? We could use some-"

Before she finished the sentence the red monster picked her up by her leg and slammed her like a ragdoll into Ethan. Once they were both crumpled on the roof it raised a foot and slammed it down.

Willow had finally been able to turn away but the squelching still meet her ears.

The rest of them still made no response to three of their number being brutalized. They still acted out a conversation as though they were practicing a script with some actors missing.

"An interesting response," a voice said to her right.

A hand was placed on left shoulder and it's claws dig into it. Even seeing the sight before her Willow was in too much shock to do more than widen her eyes. Her shock compounded when she felt the cold sharp edge of steel against her neck.

Standing next to her was her mother, yet her skin was red and her hair was silver. She looked down at Willow with four burning eyes and smiled with a mouth full of jagged teeth. She knew she felt the edge of a blade against her throat yet her mother held nothing in her hands.

"Most people scream and run," Raven continued, "Claw at whatever they see crawling on their skin or beg for it to stop."

Willow watched as her mother bent over with an animated arch in her spine, not kneel like she usually does so lovingly to show concern, to look at her with an upside down eye. Her hair became a silver curtain that shielded her from watching what looked like a snuff film with devoted method actors that were told to ignore the murderous contraption in their midst and whatever carnage it wrought.

"It's oh so delightful when I get someone so still and shocked," her mother said as she bent and contorted to look deep into her eyes, "I get to see every bit of fear radiate off you."

Raven's near amorphous form swirled and settled in front of her and she spoke yet again, "What do you see child? What fear have I given you?"

Willow fought the images from burning themselves in her mind but it was a battle she was loosing. She knew who she was up against. She knew everything in front of her was fake, but whatever caused them made any rational leave her.

"Mom," she squeaked out as she looked into the four eyes of the visage she had only seen in recordings of old Titan fights that their mother was always radiating shame as they played.

Suddenly the person in front of her was no longer her demonic mother but an unassuming lanky man with a rucksack mask with straw haphazardly stuck inside, a decrepit doctor's coat and a leather glove with syringes affixed to each finger.

Beyond him was an empty roof. Any trace of her family was gone.

"You see me as your mother?" The man asked with a vocalizer that made his voice more guttural that it could be naturally.

Free from the facade, Willow swallowed heavily but whimpered as her skin came into contact with what she could now see was a quite savage looking scythe resting on her shoulder with the blade turned under her chin. He held it in such a way that his arm and the scythe both effectively wrapped around her neck.

She reached for her magic, her shapeshifting, but both were silent against the torrent of paralyzing fear, or whatever drug Scarecrow had doped her with to show her that nightmare.

"Crane!" the Dark Knight shouted, "Let her go!"

Scarecrow turned his head to the thump of boots and flutter of capes and cloaks behind him. He dug his poorly kept nails into Willow's shoulder and pushed

her to turn around to face the newcomers.

"You're lucky that only Batman can make you feel fear, because I would fling you through dimensions that would drive you mad," Raven said.

Jessica floated gallantly over the rooftop as well, brandishing her ring like any noble Lantern, "You are under arrest for the unlawful use of the Emotional Spectrum!"

Beside them Robin stood with a hint of anger that was big enough for Willow to actually notice it even without her empathy.

Willow had, on thankfully very few occasions, seen her mother this angry. But that thought did nothing to quell her stuttering breath when she saw her mother's four red eyes.

"I only wanted the Bat!" Scarecrow shouted over Willow's shoulder, "Only the Bat makes me feel that wonderful fear! Then this brat comes along and tries to shut me down before he gets here!"

Willow felt the blade press into her neck.

"But now that he's here, I'll get rid of the distractions!"

Just as she felt the blade begin to slide across her throat, a flashes of green and black blurred her vision. When it cleared her mother was holding her in her arms and the scythe was clattering to the rooftop with the vestiges of a green light having carried it. Willow turned her head to see Batman slamming Scarecrow to the floor with a batarang embedded in his shoulder.

Raven clutched her daughter to her chest and pressed a hand to Willow's neck. The small cut Scarecrow had managed to produce was easily wiped away, but the fear in her eyes was prominent and enduring.

* * *

Sorry for such a delay. I can't really excuse it this time besides trying to call out my new college classes. Welding is tough, but hopefully I'll be more consistent now.

Please review and all that stuff and hopefully I'll have the drive to make it in less than two months!


	12. Claws in the Mind

I can't really excuse myself this time. Even with how much I liked the last chapter I fell back into some stuff that hamstrung my will to write. Only after learning that it was BBRAE week that I figured I might as well throw this one out already. It isn't in theme obviously but I wanted to do something.

* * *

"This is your fault! You let her be alone! In Gotham!" Sesha yelled.

Sesha had Robin by the collar and up a good few feet off the ground. Her legs were elongated, even though she didn't need them to be to have a few inches on the Son of the Bat. They were double jointed and sprouting quills as well. Her claws were threatening to shred the carbon fiber fabric his cape was composed of but Robin only stared back.

Beside them Jon hovered to Sesha's new height but knew not to intervene without making Sesha's anger flair.

"It was a calculated risk for all of the lives at stake," Robin said coolly, "We needed to cover all the ground we could. You were all indisposed with the earthquake and people could have started tearing each other apart from Crane's fear program. Crane is to dangerous to be left to his own devices just so we can do the buddy system."

Sesha snarled and dragged Robin a foot higher up the wall.

"So you can what?" Sesha growled, "Throw her to the sharks to see if she could swim like you wanted to test? Have her run through the streets when a simple neon sign infected her with that yellow light?"

"Would you rather I leave the citizens to Crane's simple infection method?" Robin countered, "The rate he could spread it was unprecedented if he could hack computers and new stations to transmit the light."

"I know how much of a threat Crain is! I would just you rather you treat us as the Titans and not the Suicide Squad!" Sesha roared into Robin's face, flashing sharp teeth as she did so.

"She had backup within fifteen seconds," Robin said, uncaring of Sesha's sharklike canines, "You don't see Waller caring as much for her toys."

"You only have Jessica to thank for that," Sesha growled, "She was there to drag your sorry ass there out of that nice comfy jet that kept you out of danger while my sister was in the thick of it."

"Damian had to survey as much ground as he could to find Scarecrow," Jon said, flying high enough to close the new height gap with Sesha's morphing, "Even if there were risks she has help."

Sesha gripped Robin's collar even harder and said, "And next time?"

"I would make sure she still has help," Robin answered, "My team is my responsibility."

Sesha grit her teeth for a few more moments before her proportions started to normalize and she set Damian down. He shifted his shoulders to make his cape settle correctly.

Jon went to put a hand on Sesha's shoulder but wordlessly she shoved past the two young men and down the hall the small confrontation had taken place and towards Willow's room.

* * *

"I should have been there, Gar," Raven said as she paced the hallway. Further down Desiree was slouched against her twin's door with a cheek pressed to the barrier between her and her sister. On both sides of said doorway her older brothers stood as silent sentinels, their eyes brimming with a vengeful gloom.

"Rae, you were there. You beat Jessica, a Green Lantern, to her," Garfield pleaded.

"She saw you all mutilated by that damn armor in the basement," Raven ground out through clenched teeth, "While I watched. In my demon form."

Garfield opened his mouth to retort but none came. He always had trouble appeasing his wife's moods when the levels of self deprecation got this far.

"It was just a representation of her fears. They don't mean anything more than making her scared," Garfield tried, "This is why we transferred back here. This is why you were on that mission in the first place, but we can't protect them from everything."

Garfield pulled his wife into his arms and said, "You healed her neck as you held her. You carried her all the way back to the Tower with her practically burrowing into your arms. No matter what she saw she's still grateful for you. She'll pull through thanks to you."

Raven sighed shakely and mumbled, "You always give me something to grip hope onto. Just like that penny."

Garfield smiled at the mention of the coin, lost to the eruption of Trigon's arrival but never forgotten.

There was a tug on the fabric on their legs that made them look down. When they did they saw Ethan looking up at them with big sad eyes. The two parents scooped him up in between them.

Raven said, "You're eating up so much of this turmoil, aren't you?"

Ethan nodded into his mother's shoulder. After a moment of respite the parents released the youngest and he stumbled slightly to go sit down near his siblings outside Willow's door.

Raven and Garfield followed and silently walked up to it as well. Garfield put his hand to the door and muttered his own quiet apology for not being there. He almost smiled when he heard the shuffling of what he could tell was his daughter shift on the other side of the door.

From down the hall the family became aware of Sesha's angry aura approaching. They glanced at her as she walked up and began to stiffly pace in front of the door with her arms rigidly crossed.

"She come out?" She asked gruffly.

"No," Desiree answered woefully.

Sesha closed her eyes and took deep breaths in and out. After a few of them she uncrossed her arms and stopped pacing, settling for a similar stance as her fellow triplets.

"Guys?" Willow said, her small voice barely carrying through the door, "I'm gonna come out now."

Relief washed through the group. They had been scared she would revert to her earlier demeanor and refuse their support. It was something they weren't looking forward to with the horror she had described from Crane's illusion.

As the door opened Desiree scrambled to her feet now that the surface she had been leaning on retracted into the wall. Willow caught her shoulder and stabilized her quickly before smiling at the gathering.

Raven's brow twitched and she turned to look down the hall.

"Sounds like some of the Titans were watching the door logs. They're wondering if it's okay to come see you," she said.

"Uh oh," Willow said and scooted her twin to the side as a tan blur slammed into her and onto the floor.

For a few seconds there was an amalgamation of questions that streamed from the lips of the girl on top of Willow. It was so fast that no one could even decipher it, let alone hope to answer any of them. Willow propped them up into a sitting position before speaking to the girl.

"Irie! Irie, I'm fine. Now slow down," Willow pleaded with a smile.

When Iris didn't slow her pace of questions Willow's smile melted in exasperation, making her siblings laugh.

From around the same corner Iris had ran from a few more young Titans walked down to the collection of Logans. Mari, Connor, Cassie, Virgil and even Jon.

"Irie. Iiiiirie," Willow tried again, "Jeez, how does Jai deal? Iris!"

Iris stopped dead and her mouth clamped shut, a stark contrast to her babbling so fast her mouth was a literal blur.

"I'm fine," Willow urged, "Now for the love of Azar, slow down."

"You okay?" Iris asked quickly.

"Speedsters," Conrad chuckled.

Iris shot him a glare as Willow stood with her own laugh.

"I'll say it again. I'm fine," Willow said, "Just needed to meditate that negativity away. Scarecrow threw me for one hell of a loop."

She turned to her mother, "I'm just glad you were there to pull me out of the illusion."

Raven smiled to accept the thanks but it was immediately overtaken by confusion.

"Pull you out? I didn't do anything like that," she said.

Willow exchanged the look of perplexity. "Then who did? I know someone snapped me out of it cause one moment I was scared half to death and next," Willow ended her statement with a flick of her fingers and puff of air to sound like a comical cloud of dust.

"It's something to keep in mind then," Raven said while her mind was rampant with questions.

"Iris!"

Iris whipped her head around at her name to see Cube running down the hall towards them.

"You ate my sandwich! The meat lovers triple decker!" he roared as he closed the distance.

"First my chili and now his sandwich. Have you no shame?" Connor asked with mock seriousness.

"Gladtoknowyou'reokaygottago!" Iris said in a blur before hugging Willow quickly.

"I needed some comfort food!" She shouted before becoming a yellow streak down the hall.

"As if I care! You don't touch a man's sandwich!" Cube said as he placed his hand on the wall and it started to glow along with the circuit patterns on his arm, still running after Iris as he did so, "And as if you can run while you're in the Tower. I am the tower!"

"Hey!" Willow shouted as he ran past, "I know what that's like so go easy on her!"

The small gathering of Titans watched the spectacle quietly until Cube rounded the corner.

"At least this Tower never changes," Raven said.

* * *

"She said someone snapped her out of it?" Robin asked.

"Yeah," Garfield said, "She was pretty confident that it was a someone too."

Robin furrowed his brow. Another thing to his mental checklist.

"How is she now that she's back?" Robin asked.

"Better. She's getting in the habit of letting us help her with whatever weights on her," Garfield explained, "I should thank you. For letting her meet Jess and for being there when Crain had her."

"Don't thank me too much," Robin said, "I need to make sure the situation doesn't get to that point next time."

"I didn't complain when Dick rode around on his cycle while I was legging it or winging it," Garfield said to wave Damian off as he leaned back into the adjacent chair to Damian's office desk, "Every Titan knows the risks. We just shave them down as much as we can. You helped save her and that's what matters."

However as he said this Garfield's hand clenched. He talked calmly but inside half of him was roaring at having left his young to fend for herself. Even worse another portion couldn't care less now that she was grown and wanted to watch his youngest seeing how he obviously had not matured yet.

It was a mix that gave him whiplash from time to time.

Damian grunted in response and looked at some of the files on his desk. Casually flipping through them he spoke up once he settled on whatever he was looking for.

"I have a feeling on what, or at the very least where, this someone Facet is speaking about is," Damian explained, "The building Crane was in wouldn't be able to power the tech he had and isn't some abandoned factory he could have fashioned whatever devices needed to create the yellow light that infected Facet."

"So then how did he do it?" Garfield asked, knowing Damian already had some kind of answer.

"It may look like a neon factory with all of the signs Crane slapped on the outside but it was actually a science facility being funded by Luthor about a decade ago before a fire rendered it inoperable," Damian explained, "Radiation and chemical contamination from whatever was stored for production and experiments there was the supposed cause for it to be condemned."

Damian paused to flip through a few papers on the desk.

"Medicinals, protein manufacturing and other benign productions that wouldn't cause such volatile conditions to need to condemn the building," Damian went on, "And no one thought twice about it after Luthor paid in full to make a bigger, better facility in Metropolis."

"So whatever building it is is a front, right?" Garfield asked.

"Most likely," Damian said.

"And whatever they have hiding there is able to supply Scarecrow to make new fear tech and make something else that can stop it at the same time?"

"It wouldn't be a stretch to assume that Luthor had ulterior motives to hide something there," Damian said as he calmly closed the files and stood.

Garfield smiled and stood, "So what's the plan?"

* * *

Raven glided through the library and lifted a bookshelf to right it to its proper position. Her black aura then took the strewed books and with a grace out of a fantasy swirled then around herself to glance at their spines to correctly place them on the shelf.

Willow looked up at a marble statue of their mother, one that was commissioned after she had saved the library from a fire a few years back, with a curious tilt to her head. Beside her Desiree mirrored her posture.

"It isn't," Desiree said.

Willow threw her hands up and yelled, "It totally is! The quake made it crooked!"

She paced a little keeping eye contact with the stone recreation of their mother before continuing, "Her eyes normally follow me but now they don't."

"You just always think she's watching you," Desiree countered.

"Like a momma bird," Willow said while she flipped her hands.

A book hit each of them over the head and they turned to a cross looking Conrad with a pair of books in his hands.

Sesha walked passed with a pile of books as tall as her waterlogged from a burst pipe and muttered, "At least help while you ramble."

"I'm just nervous for whatever Damian found about the building I found Scarecrow on," Willow explained.

Sesha transferred the pile in her hands to one and put her now free hand on her hip.

"Don't mention that or I'll get angry all over again," she said.

Desiree looked up and down the five and a half foot tall pile of soaked books she held aloft with one arm.

"'Again' implies you stopped being angry," she said.

Willow giggled as Sesha scoffed and carried her pile to an area where Ethan sat restoring the stained pages. When she walked up Ethan paused to look up at her but the pile obscured her view or her so he shrugged and went back to magiking the faded ink letters back into clearity.

"Let's just hope this next mission the great Son of the Bat has for us goes smoother than the last one," Sesha grumbled as she set the books into the pile of other ruined literature.

* * *

I think I'm starting to get this thing rolling actually. Setting stuff up and getting ready to knock it down is a good motivator to actually update.

Fav and review and all that.


	13. Scene of the Slaughter

Siiiiiigh. Yeah. I'm not dead. Felt like I was for a while but after a lot of things brightening my disposition lately I finally felt the power to actually update this. With a chapter twice as long as the previous at that! I hope this trend doesn't repeat but I hope that comments and follows as well as my brighter situation keep me going to write this because it will be a cold day in hell when I stop, at the very least, wanting to write this.

On top of that this chapter was very heavy and hard to write so my life situation was only one part as to why it took so long.

Either way, please enjoy!

* * *

"This is a simple recon mission. Survey anything suspicious inside the building and if we're not in line of sight sound off every five minute interval," Robin commanded briskly as the small group slunk towards the decrepit building Willow had experienced a waking nightmare.

Said girl was clutching her dark cloak for concealment and flying alongside Nightstar and Robin's jet that carried, Red Arrow, Cube, and, of course, Robin.

Willow could swear she could feel her family's discontent in letting her go without any of them even from across the country.

"Are we sure anything is even there?" Cube asked, Willow hearing his voice through her communicator, "I'm not picking up anything. Pretty impressive to hide something so well in such a dingy area."

"We'll know for sure once we investigate," Robin said as the jet, as silent and unseen as a shadow, pulled up and dropped the three occupants on the roof without slowing to a complete stop and not coming close to the roof's height.

Connor already had his bow out even as he expertly rolled to cushion his fall and, once he was upright, clicked his tongue.

His ear twitched and he said, "Just the five of us."

"Yep, no heat signatures but us," Cube confirmed.

Robin glanced at Willow who only smiled and gave him a thumbs up. His nose twitched in response and he walked over to the roof access door. He motioned to Cube and then waved to the door. Cube looked perplexedly at the rusted door held closed by the detached hook of a missing padlock.

"Why do you need me for this?" Cube asked, walking up beside Robin, "It's just a-"

Cube stopped dead for a moment before he then reached out and placed a hand on the door.

"Motion detector. There is something up with this place," he said with a hushed voice. After his hand glowed and blinked a few times he said, "It's blind now."

Robin nodded and took the forlorn hook off the latch and entered with his small team.

An unassuming stairwell is all that greated them.

"I'm picking up other similar systems. Go slowly so I can blind em before we trip em," Cube warned.

Robin nodded then pointed to Connor and Willow.

"Facet, Speedy. Take point," he ordered.

Connor drew his bow string out and aimed over the railing as he descended down while Willow levitated down the hollow middle of the stairwell.

* * *

"Turn into a cheetah. You'll tire yourself out faster," Conrad said.

"I don't need that right now!" Sesha shouted as she ran on the treadmill. Her legs moved at a speed that would make the Flash nod in appreciation. She vaulted over the front and landed in front of Conrad before turning to her punching bag and punching it with enough force to break the lower chains and make it swing away and then back at her.

"I'm pissed enough as it is."

She struck it a number of times. Her knuckles hurt.

"Pissed off at Robin for taking Willow back to Gotham. Again!"

She struck it several more times. Her knuckles were raw.

"I'm pissed at mom and dad for letting her go without any of us. Again!"

She struck it with a flurry of blows. Her knuckles bled.

"I'm pissed that I can't do anything! Again!"

The last word was a roar as she brought her hand back to hit the bag much harder than before but her arm was caught before she could let it loose.

"And taking it out on a sack of sand will help?" Conrad asked calmly.

Sesha looked back at her arm, her thick muscles quivering in rage. It was an odd sight to see it held firm by Conrad's completely still arm, it being almost half as thin.

"It'll make me feel better," Sesha growled.

"And by doing what?" Desiree asked from the corner of the gym she was meditating in without opening her eyes, "Throwing the temper tantrum we all know your little training session actually is?"

Sesha roared once more and ripped her arm from Conrad's grasp. It sailed towards the bag once more but stopped just short of her bloody knuckles grazing the surface.

Conrad sighed and reached down to mend the chains that held it while Desiree rose from her meditative position and flew over to her older sister.

Desiree took Sesha's shaking fist that was still hovering just beside the bag and grasped it in both her hands.

As Desiree's healing magic slowly worked on the torn knuckles Sesha spoke.

"I'm pissed at myself for being useless."

"And what could you have added to that team?" Desiree asked, "Robin built it for being as small and versatile as possible. Any of us going would have been a detriment to his plan."

Sesha's energy seemed to be spent. She hung her head low and she only shrugged.

"I just want to do something," she mumbled.

"You are. You're on standby," Desiree said as she tapped her sister's pointed ear that had a communicator hidden inside, "As little as that sounds Willow knows that no matter what happens her family will be there. Batman had a perimeter already set up so they only have to worry about whats inside and we have Cube there to open a boomtube at the drop of a hat."

Sesha pursed her lips and said, "Let's just hope what's in there isn't all that exciting."

* * *

The abandoned offices and labs had little of interest. The building was mostly stripped bare and every corner Mar'i shined her purple starbolts was only spiders, rats or both.

"There has to be something," Robin grunted after shoving another broken lab lamp off a desk, leaving only the layer of dust on its surface.

"Yeah," Conner said over the com, "And I think Willow found it."

Mar'i, Cube and Robin found Connor and Willow by an elevator shaft. Willow was staring down the empty shaft with wide eyes.

Cube put a hand to the panel and said, "There's some power still running this thing. I've heard that animals can smell the electricity in the air. Is that what tipped you, Willow?"

She shook her head and continued to stare down the shaft.

"No," she said, "The blood did."

Instantly all of her companions had tensed and took battle ready stances, Connor with his bow and Mar'i and Cube with their glowing hands, biological or technological. Willow, however, just floated down the elevator shaft nonchalantly.

"No need to get uppity. I don't sense anything alive," Willow said with a flat tone.

Connor loosened his grip on his bow to look at Willow with concern. Mar'i and Cube did the same yet only lowered their hands, but they stayed illuminated.

Robin stayed vigilant, took a device off his belt and hopped into the shaft. He clasped the device on the cable at the center and slowly descended alongside the empath.

"That doesn't mean we can relax. Stay alert," he said as he slightly loosened his grip and descended faster.

Once at the bottom of the shaft the smell Willow had detected became more prevalent. A heavy smell of iron became noticeable to even human noses.

After Mar'i set Cube and Connor from her offered ride down the shaft she moved to pry open a set of heavy looking doors. Much heavier than any of the above elevators.

"There we have it," Connor said, gesturing to the doors, "The oldest villain staple. The 'keep out' doors."

Willow stared down the door and a disk glowed on its surface. Before it could grow a foot in diameter it fizzled and sputtered out of existence. She grimaced in a way characteristic of her eldest sister, sharp teeth and all.

Connor's worried look landed on her again.

"Nothin' I can't handle," Cube said as he put his hands on the doors. The circuitry in his skin lit up and the doors dinged and opened and the small group was greeted with the sight of red and smell of blood.

All but Robin covered their noses as they stepped forward into the more well kept and advanced looking lab hallway then the abandoned upper floors. At least it would have been well kept if not for the spatters of red on the floors and walls as well as the bodies.

"They ripped each other apart," Cube observed, looking at the damage they had given to each other.

"Was it Scarecrow's distraction to get out?" Nightstar asked, turning to Robin who was inspecting something on the floor.

"No. He could have left whenever he felt like it," Robin said as he picked a bloody ID card off the floor. He held it out for everyone to see.

"He worked here?!" Willow almost shouted when Crain's laminated face showed itself under the specks of blood.

After glaring at her to keep quiet Robin said, "This lab must be where he made the yellow light program. I don't know why but Luthor must have commissioned it and Crain just decided to turn it on his coworkers when he was done."

"Are you sure?" Willow asked, "He didn't exactly give all of that up when Batman interrogated him."

"Crain is a sociopath with megalomania. They might have been using him down here but in the end he just used them. He probably didn't even feel they were worth mentioning," he answered before stepping forward into the lab.

Down the hall a figure watched and floated a foot off the ground. Catching the slight movement Robin snapped his head in the direction but only saw the flash of a foot whipping around the corner. Everyone noticed his movement and looked as well but saw nothing.

Robin twisted his earlobe, a sign that he fears mental communication could be compromised. A snap judgment he made after Willow said that she didn't sense anyone down here but whoever just ran had hid themselves from her and probably has the advantage in mental capabilities.

A concerning thought considering she was specifically picked for those abilities.

Silent commands started to pass between them. Robin signed to Willow and Cube if they detected anything and when they both signed back in the negative he motioned them to follow quietly.

They silently followed him and found the hall empty but for the bodies and blood. Blood that had no footprints.

Willow motioned to herself as she levitated and the lack of footprints in the blood, obviously stating the fact that their quarry was doing the same as her. Robin then pointed to a smear on the wall. Fresh enough to still be dripping. It was a small hand print but it was a clear liquid, not blood, and around hand height for whoever might have been hiding around the corner.

Robin motioned for Cube step forward and Cube then took a sample on his finger and pinched it between his finger and thumb. A dull light flashed under the skin between his fingers and after a few moments a results screen showed up on his forearm.

It displayed kryptonite and a formula that Robin and Cube recognized as a stasis tank solution. One that Robin further recognized as one very familiar to one he and his father had developed to keep a hostile kryptonian incapacitated. A kryptionan was held here, Robin deduced.

Jon, Clark, Kara Kent aka Supergirl were accounted for. Even Luthor wasn't mad enough to try and hold Zod or his wife and son here against his will, at least with such a sub par facility for such an undertaking to keep the conqueror captive. The clones that Luthor has funded alongside Cadmus were Karen Kent aka Powergirl and Conner Kent (" _With an 'e'_ ," Robin thought as he glanced at Speedy) aka Powerboy but they were also accounted for on the Justice League network. That left the last clone, Bizzaro. He is a failed one that Robin knew from the time Jason had the clone on his team, the Outlaws, actually only became smarter when exposed to the kryptonite solution. That only left one answer.

" _Seems the madman wanted to try yet again to clone another one_ ," Robin thought.

"Kryptonite? What are they doing with that?" Willow asked before slapping her hands over her mouth.

Robin sighed at the loss of stealth and dug into his belt and retrieved a small curved dagger with a glowing green edge. The slight glow revealed more traces of drips of the same liquid on the floor.

"I think it's safe to say we might be dealing with a kryptonian," Robin said, following the drips with the ambient green light as a makeshift flashlight.

"You think it's a kryptonian?" Connor asked as they all followed him.

"A high end secret lab funded by Luthor that has an anti kryptonian stasis fluid?" Robin asked rhetorically, "Yeah. I think a kryptonian was kept here alongside whatever else Luthor was plotting."

"I'm not reading anyone on thermal," Cube said.

"Whoever it is is soaked in the solution," Robin said, "It may confuse your thermal. Speedy, can you try echolocation?"

Willow ignored them and flew forward saying, "She may be able to hide from me, but I can still sense the void she left behind."

"She?" Cube asked.

"Facet. Wait," Robin said in a hushed yell.

Willow only accelerated her flight and said, "Sorry, but I can smell how scared she is."

"She can smell that it's a 'she'?" Cube asked as they all chased after her.

* * *

Garfield paced nervously.

"Why did I let Damian talk me into this?" he said as he ran his fingers through his hair, "I should have pulled rank and gone with."

"And he told you that Willow alone was the better option. It's a recon mission and the smaller the better," Raven said, not looking up from her book.

Even the nostalgic setting of being back in the same room that was Raven's original abode in the Tower did little to quell the bristled hair on the back of Garfield's neck.

"We both know he just wants to better watch her and whatever new abilities she has," Garfield said on the edge of shouting it. With a huff he plopped down onto the edge of the bed closest to the chair his wife sat in.

"Because if you or I were there then she would underperform with us at her back," Raven reasoned, "It's not to undermine us. It's to let her spread her own wings. It's exactly what we agreed on when we let them fight Adonis."

Garfield sighed and let his head fall back, "I would have thought a little harder about letting them join the Titans if I knew it would make my gut twist this much."

"And they would have just pushed a little harder to make us say yes," Raven said with a small but fond smile.

Garfield's agitated look melted with a chuckle, "If Desiree and Willow had done another intervention style 'let us be Titans' meeting I would have lost my mind."

"I know you adored their speeches about wanting to grow up to be just like you," Raven said.

Garfield's smile turned melancholic, "Feels like yesterday that those were with crayon drawings they drew while at kindergarten and not well spoken speeches that they wrote instead of doing their high school homework."

Raven nodded slowly at the memories. She put the novel down and walked over to the bed and extended a hand to Garfield.

"Come on. We're going to the gym to make sure we're warmed up for any alerts," She said.

Garfield took the offered hand and with a single tug was on his feet. He stole a quick kiss and said, "I could use the distraction."

* * *

After the twists and turns inside the facility they finally chased Willow to what seemed like the deepest part of the underground lab.

"At least that's what my sensors say," Cube said.

Willow stared at the door with an uncanny focus that made it clear she was looking at something beyond the heavy doors. Doors that dwarfed the barriers that Cube opened to grant them all entrance.

Cube put his hands on the doors but this time the doors stayed in place.

"They got an entire server network firewalling these doors. I'm not getting through it for a while," he said after letting his arm down.

"You think you can get them?" Cube asked as he turned to Mar'i.

Mar'i looked up and down the colossal doors and said, "I can certainly try."

Mar'i walked up to the doors and made to pry them open. When the groan of metal became apparent it was made clear that these would be a more stalwart obstacle then the pair before. She stopped her effort to brute force the door when she noticed something in the crease of the doors. She traced a finger over the seam and found imperfections at around the same height as the hand prints that were left behind in the hallway. Imperfections that looked like finger depressions in the thick titanium alloy.

"She moved this door in the small window of time us chasing her gave her. She's stronger than me. Should we call backup?"

"No," Willow interjected with a creased brow, "She's scared and more pursuers won't help."

"And I agree with you, Facet," Robin said as he raised a hand to placate Willow, "It's already better that she's scared and not angry. But we still need to proceed with caution. Fear can still turn to anger."

Mar'i nodded and said, "Then should someone help me with this? Don't want to rip them open just to give our scared friend a scene out of The Shining."

Willow raised her hands and dark tendrils leapt forward and violently grasped the edges of the door. When the vines of shadow were taut she looked to Mar'i for her to start as well.

"Willow. I just said we don't want to scare her," Mar'i said.

Willow looked like she fought rolling her eyes before she said, "And I won't need to help you once I give you enough space. She won't even see them. I'm helping you so just open the door already."

"Jeez, Willow," Cube said, "Do you need a Snickers?"

"Yes," she said.

When her stomach actually growled Robin sighed.

"If it bothers you enough to emotionally compromise you during a mission then you need to eat a full meal before," He said with a leader's composure.

The rest of the group looked at Willow. They watched for any reaction to being called out for the on edge vibes she was giving off that were more characteristic of her eldest sister. The reaction they got was her gritting her teeth and closing her eyes. They were surprised that the teeth they saw were slightly sharper then normal, another trait she seemed to be borrowing from Sesha.

After huffing out her nose she said, "Sorry. I need to meditate after this mission."

Robin looked dissatisfied with what was the unspoken Logan stock answer to dismiss any more questions but nevertheless turned to the door and waited for the girls to open it.

Mar'i braced her hands again and Willow's black tendrils assisted in prying the door open The looks of concentration on their faces strained until the steel doors gave way and seperated. When Mar'i finally had room to better push the doors open alone Willow's tendrils receded to not be visible from the other side.

The room revealed was too dark to make much besides the faint glow of the buttons of what appeared to be a control console that was immediately facing the door that had a major section being obscured at the very center.

Robin scrutinized the inside of the door and noticed lead lining.

"Definitely a Kryptonian," Robin muttered and kept his green dagger at the ready.

"Put that away," Willow growled at him as she walked past.

At first he ignored her but after casting the glow over the and revealing what was blocking the console he simply replied, "No."

A body was crumpled over the control panel with a charred hole in its torso. Cube looked at the body with his mouth set in a grim line. Mar'i sighed sadly at the bloodshed and hoisted the corpse with a quiet apology and Cube looked over the console.

"If your right about this mystery chick being a Kryptonian then I think it's pretty easy to see what killed him," Cube said as he motioned to the melted buttons.

The console that the body was slouching over was melted through as if a laser had carved through from the opposite side and had then been dragged up and up through the sternum of the man standing in front of it. The hole in his chest wasn't dragged all the way up but it still became a melted line that went up and over the mans face, leaving it unrecognizable.

Robin looked at the door they had just pried open. Whatever feeble power it had left was trying to close it behind them but it was still enough to reveal the scorch mark on the door that the beam had left after it passed through the scientist and console.

A sniffle from the opposite side of the room alerted everyone. Weapons were drawn towards the source of the noise and there was a small yelp of fear and a slosh of liquid. The action was immediately followed by Willow putting herself in between the noise and her team.

"She's scared," Willow pleaded, "Calm down."

"Robin just told you the same thing," Cube said.

"That's not the problem now," Willow shot back.

"What if she tries to burn a hole through us too?" Mar'i asked.

"She would have by now if she wanted to," Willow argued.

For a few tense seconds the stared each other down with only Connor not having taken a side. His string hand barely holding the arrow between his fingers as he looked back and forth from Willow and the rest of the group.

" _She's right_ ," a small girl's voice said in their heads. The intrusion hurt and even Robin flinched at it. Willow did not as it seemed she welcomed the girls mind into her own.

"Telepath," Robin grumbled exasperatedly, "Why not. Cube give us a light."

A flashlight shone from Cube's wrist and lit up the opposite side of the room. The immediate information they all took in was that the noise came from a stasis tube set in center of the opposite side of the wall. The second thing was the various lines melted into the glass of the tank that formed a hole in the front of it. Following where the lines were made in the glass they could see more scorch marks left in the various surfaces in the lab.

Inside the tube was a modest portion of what could be assumed was the liquid they scanned earlier. All that was left was whatever amount was able to be retained by the glass that was left, making an odd standing bath tub. Standing in the tube and slouching so only her head was visible was a girl with stark black hair in a pixie cut and pale sun deprived skin. The rest of her was obscured by the stasis liquid that she was crouching in.

"Are you naked in there?" Willow asked while looking back her body still facing her team.

" _Yes,_ " the voice said again as the girl nodded meekly.

"So then she was running around . . ." Cube trailed off.

Willow looked at them all and floated over to the tube while taking off her cloak.

Robin raised a hand to intercept but clenched it in defeat as she was already halfway. "She killed this man, and you're just gonna go right up to her?" he said.

"Yep. I got a good feeling about it," Willow said as she held her cloak open in front of the opening that was burned into the tube by it's occupant and gave her a smile.

The young girl looked up at her and after a while Willow decided to speak.

"It was you who helped me a few days ago, wasn't it?" She asked.

The fear that the girl had in her eyes faded and she returned the smile and nodded. Slowly she pushed aside what looked like monitoring wires and a breathing apparatus to climb out and took the cloak to cover herself.

"Hungry?" the girl said in an odd questioning tone.

"Me?" Willow said with a lopsided grin, "I guess, but my name is Willow."

"Hungry," she repeated with more conviction.

"Okay, let's go with that for now," Willow said with a good natured eye roll, "What's your name?"

The girl looked at her from under the hood with deep confusion.

"You don't have a name?" Willow asked sadly.

"The subject?" she offered with a shrug.

Willow grimaced at the dehumanizing treatment that the answer implied. The other Titans slowly approached, excluding Robin who stayed at the console.

"Hey, little lady," Cube said with a raised hand in greeting, "I'm Cube."

There was a beat of silence as the girl seemed to size him up. She clutched the borrowed cloak around her tighter before she started to circle the biomechanical teen.

"At least she seems to understand stuff like decency," Mar'i observed, watching the girl keep herself covered around the opposite gender.

"Like you would be one to comment on that," Willow said with a cheeky grin.

Mar'i was glad that the jokester was back and not the stony visage that they chased through this lab. She didn't show it and only crossed her arms to respond with, "Really? You're closer to my mothers dressing habits than me with all that leg you show."

Willow emphatically felt the positive reaction to her return to her normal demeanor. She pushed down the guilt from making her friends worry and looked at the girl. She was still circling the now somewhat self conscious metal teen and Willow mulled over why she was so aggressively protective of the girl before she had even met her, let alone laid eyes on her. She was sure Robin already made a note of it when she affirmed that it was this girl that had pulled her from Scarecrows hallucinogenic.

"Curious," the girl said as she looked up and down the more mechanical portions of his body.

"Curious?" Cube repeated, "Is she calling me curious? Like how Willow is hungry?"

"I think she may just be happy to be among other weirdos," Connor said with a grin, "If I had to guess she relishes the chance to stare at someone instead of being stared at."

The girl looked at Connor with wide eyes and rapidly nodded her head.

"Looks like you were right," Willow said.

Connor chuckled and said, "I'm good at taking shots in the dark."

Willow stuck her tongue out at him.

Robin walked up behind Willow and looked down at the girl. She looked up at him and immediately cowered behind Willow. A feat made easy by her emaciated frame.

Willow allowed the girl to hide behind her back and said to her, "Don't let his prickly attitude get to you. He's a softy deep down."

Robin narrowed his eyes at Willow.

"May I talk to her?" he asked cordially, despite it being through clenched teeth. Willow could tell that asking permission from her made him seeth but that due to her rapid bond to the girl made it the best option.

"It's okay. You can talk to him," Willow assured.

The girl looked up at Robin with a twinge of fear still in her eyes.

"She already knows to be afraid of the boss," Connor muttered.

Robin just sighed at the tension he added and gestured to the body still slumped over the melted console.

"What happened here?" he asked simply.

The girl looked at the corpse and shrunk under what Willow could sense was a powerful wave of regret.

"Fear. Yellow. Screaming," the girl said.

"Crain taking his leave," Robin easily put together.

She pointed at the corpse then at herself and said, "Killing."

"He was trying to kill you?" Willow offered.

The girl nodded before saying, "He almost did."

"How," Robin said. It was more a demand then a question.

The girl flinched but answered, "He pressed a button. The tube started to glow. So much pain. After a while I felt how angry he got. He was going to press another but then I got angry too. Then . . ."

If anyone was surprised at her jump in linguistic ability they kept quiet for her to continue.

"I felt fire in my eyes. I didn't know what was happening but I knew that it was something to defend myself with. I looked that the man again and even though everything was red and green I could still see the shock on his face. The next thing I knew the glass in front of me was melted and the tube was draining."

Through her whole verbal regurgitation she started strong but her voice slowly started to break. Not due to sobs that had also started but a hoarseness that reminded the Titans of losing one's voice or a severe cough.

"So you can talk," Robin said, "Not doing a lot of it for a long time just makes it hard."

The girl nodded in response with an uncomfortable look on her face as she rubbed her neck. She looked satisfied that her story was told while she still had her voice.

Willow tentatively reached out and blue healing magic brushed against the girls neck. When she pulled away Willow sighed sadly. "I can't heal what isn't broken. It's just weak," she explained.

Robin hummed in thought before sighing, "I won't hear the end of it if I don't give you at least some benefit of the doubt."

"Does that mean?" Willow started asking.

"Cube is going to salvage any surveillance footage to corroborate her story while I call Superboy," Robin finished.

Willow walked up behind the girl and put her hands on her shoulders. An action that was surprisingly met with no resistance.

"You here that?! You're coming back to Titan's Tower with us!" Willow said jubilantly.

The girl gave a small smile.

Robin's mask visibly twitched and he quickly added, "Don't make assumptions!"

The girls smile fell.

"I didn't hear a 'no'," Willow sang.

The girl smiled again.

Cube chuckled and walked over the console, saying, "Surveillance footage coming right up."

* * *

As you can see, that is the reason this was so hard to write. Character intro. Before anyone thinks that I'm going back on my "no original character" clause I'm still not. She might have never been used after her introduction and I may have de-aged her a bit but she is still from the comics. I obviously changed her origin too, and Powergirl's, but Powergirl having her origin rewritten is a literal running joke among the writers that is became a plot point so I feel little guilt on that front.

Please review and all of that stuff, and maybe I wont fall off the edge of the world again! Ha! I probably will anyways.


	14. Clone Craze

Raven and Desiree meditated side by side. It would have been a calm and stoic scene had it not been for Sesha and Garfield sparring behind them.

Sesha was enthusiastically swiping her claws with abandon at Garfield, who passively knocked aside any and all of her attacks. To a casual observer it would remind one of an odd cross between a lion cub attacking its father and a boxer and a trainer with focus pads. It didn't even look like she was actually attempting to hit her father but rather just enjoy the activity with him, if the wide happy grin on both of their faces had anything to say for it.

Suddenly the chanting of the two meditating stopped. The two sparring stopped as well to look at the two now silent females.

"You two done?" Garfield asked.

"No," Raven said after opening her eyes.

Desiree also opened her eyes and turned to the two and smiled, "Willow's home."

"And she's in distress," Raven stated while narrowing her eyes and making Desiree look at her in confusion. Than a look concentration crossed her face and after another moment the look became that of worry.

Sesha dropped her arms and gruffly sighed, "Imma kill Robin."

* * *

"Willow, stop," Robin ordered.

"Shut up," Willow murmured as she walked briskly down the Tower hallway. Robin chased after with a growl in his voice.

"We couldn't just bring her to the Tower," Robin said, "Not after watching the footage."

"No," Willow said without stopping, "It gave us even more reason. She wasn't the only clone grown down there but she felt all of them die! Their pain and fear and were hers and that's why she wanted to come to the Tower! To be a Titan!"

"Even so, she still killed that scientist," Robin said, not raising to her anger but still following.

"The scientist that was trying to kill her! That killed all of her brothers and sisters! It was self defense!" Willow shouted.

"It's still my decision to give her a full scan from a high level telepath like J'onn," Robin said, "I still feel that your response to her garnered precaution."

Willow had the decency to calm down at that. She slumped but gave a response.

"I get that I was acting weird, but thats on me," Willow said in a dejected fashion, "But don't punish the poor girl for it. She's been through enough."

"And how much of that was imprinted from her telepathy?" Robin reasoned, "How much is you being protective and how much is her _making_ you protect her?"

"I don't," Willow started but then faltered, "I d-don't know. She could have hijacked my empathy and endeared me to her so she can easily infiltrate us or whatever spy stuff your dad and grandad taught you but that can't be all of it. Not after what we saw."

"Willow!"

Willow turned away from her leader, whose eyes still bore into her.

Sesha, Desiree and her parents came running or flying down the hall. None of them bothered with greetings as Desiree hugged her twin and Sesha aggressively put herself between Robin and her sisters.

"What did you do this time?" Sesha asked with a permeating growl, her pupils already slits.

Willow broke out of Desiree's hug and grabbed her other sister's arm, "Nothing! This time it was me. I was the one with a problem."

Sesha looked back at Willow with an incredulous look and said, "I figured with what we felt." Then she turned to look at Robin again, "But I remember telling someone to not let that happen again."

"Sesha! You're overreacting!" Willow shouted.

Sesha jumped at the outburst, startled by the anger that had slipped by underneath her own. When she turned to look at Willow was already looking a little regretful for raising her voice, but she continued.

"Anything I feel right now is my fault. I just got attached too fast."

"Attached?" Desiree asked.

"What did you find down there?" Garfield asked with slight disbelief.

"Cube is uploading the files right now," Robin said as he finally turned his gaze from Willow, who breathed a silent sigh, "It would be better to show you."

Robin started down the hallway. Raven put her hand on Sesha's shoulder and gave it a small squeeze before following, her husband right behind her. He did hesitate by looking at his daughters to see if they would follow.

Willow didn't move and only said, "You guys go watch it. I'm not gonna a second time though."

Desiree looked between her and the retreating figures. Her parents had stopped at Willow's voice and Sesha still had yet to move.

"You go on ahead," Desiree suggested to her parents as she stepped a little closer to her twin, "I'll stay here with Willow."

Willow smiled at the gesture but pushed her away into Sesha.

"You two need to go see that footage and I need a bath," she said.

"But," Desiree started before Willow's finger cut her off.

"But nothing. I'll be fine and we can talk later. Unless you want to take a bath with me," Willow said with a coy smile.

Desiree leaned in while sticking her leg out and away to then then take a far step away from her twin.

"Okay," Desiree said as she waved her hands dismissively at Willow, "You win."

Before the twins could share a small giggle Sesha interrupted.

"I'm sorry," Sesha said.

The twins looked at her.

"Sorry for going off the handle. I just saw you getting all sad and down and already about to close up again and could only think to blame Robin," Sesha blurted, "It was rash."

"I wasn't gonna close up," Willow said softly as she put her hand in Sesha's, "I was gonna wash my cloak and other stuff. I probably got the worst of the mission grime. I also need to process that video that everyone is prolly not watching cause they're waiting for you two."

Desiree took Sesha's other hand, "And we appreciate the apology but tone the guilt down. You're freaking us out."

Sesha gave a breathless laugh that expressed how much of the self deprecation she was feeling just as well as the twins felt it coming off of her.

"I was just thinking about what you guys said that one night about me changing for the better," Sesha said and then pulled her sisters into an embrace with their clasped hands.

"Figured I should be better for you too."

"Eeeeeew," Desiree said as she put up the appearance of struggling against her elder sisters grasp, "Sesha is being mushy! Make it stahp!"

"Oh Azar! Imma barf!" Willow squealed as she dissolved into giggles that she hid in the crook of Sesha's neck.

Sesha chuckled in response and hoisted the twins up and swung them from side to side affectionately a few times before putting them down.

"Don't read too much into it. Not like I love ya or anything," Sesha said with obvious sarcasm.

Desiree stuck her tongue out before grabbing Sesha's arm and dragging her off in the direction where everyone else had left. Willow waved after them as they turned the corner. When they were out of sight Willow's smile fell into a deep frown.

"I'm getting too good at this," she murmured as a candy bar fell out of a portal and into her hand.

* * *

"The sick bastards," Sesha grumbled as the footage played.

"They're all Crane's victims, Sesha. At least have a little respect," Raven said.

"Fine," Sesha said with a roll of her eyes and crossing her arms, "The _dead_ sick bastards."

A young girl about the age of 6, whom Robin told them was a girl they had found at the facility, was being forced to do various horrid tests. Pain tolerance, Kryptonite resistance and a slew of others that were hard to discern. The only thing they had to go off of was that the scientists seemed to pat each other on the back more when her screams lasted longer before the girl passed out.

"Making her into a weapon. Of course," Sesha growled, "Because thats all we scary metas are good for, huh?"

"Sesha, shh," Ulrich hissed, "We might miss them say something."

"Nothing that I haven't already transcribed," Robin said.

"So why show us?" Iris asked. She was perturbed by the screams of the young girl and was leaning out of her chair into Conrad's side. No one commented how it essentially made them cuddle each other.

The girl on screen started to beg through one of the tests. Begging to let her see 'the others' but was obviously denied and harshly rendered unconscious by Kryptonite pressed against her skin and returned to her holding tank.

"Its an assessment," Robin said as the scientists rambled about adding psionic shielding to her containment. "She is clearly very strong and somewhat-"

He paused as the footage cut to her breaching her containment. She punched through the tube that held her and almost pounded through and nearly ripped apart the doors that Mari admitted to not being able to open alone, all while being what looked to be the age of eight.

The girl was brought down by a peppering of glowing green darts being shot into her back, some of which were embedded in the steel door in front of her as well, and she was returned to the tube and her containment reinforced by the next span of footage.

"Volatile," Robin finished.

"Stick me in a tank for a decade and I'll show you volatile," Sesha said.

"So you condone her actions?" Robin asked.

"No," Sesha said with narrowing eyes and her sharp nails making light scratching noises on the meeting room table, "but I understand them."

"So you want her to join?" Virgil asked as they watched the girl grow through the footage and get more broken down as she stopped asking to see 'the others' and only sobbed through her tests.

As the footage progressed from the girl being in her preteens to what they all could recognize as the night Crane made his grand exit. The lights all flickered yellow and the scientists all started attacking one another, screaming or roaring at whatever abominations they saw one another as.

Finally one scientist that seemed to keep some of his wits about him stepped forth in front of the console.

"You were supposed to be our great creation! So splendid! Divine!" He ranted amidst the yellow floodlights. His manic smile dissolved and he scowled at the tube that held the girl with a frothing mouth, "Not this nightmare! Now I'll have to kill you!"

He slammed a button on the console and the green fluid inside the tank started to glow.

The girl's screams were heard even though the tank, whatever breathing apparatus she was wearing and even all the other screams of the scientists killing each other just outside in the hall. They could even pick up Crain himself as he sliced through the last of the rabid scientists with his scythe, laughing all the while.

When the girl's screaming continued anger flashed over the scientist's face and he went to press another button. Just before he did a beam of red light burst from the tube and pierced through the console and the scientist's gut before arcing up and carving a scorched canyon in his chest and face.

The next few minutes was the girl anxiously leaving the newly melted hole. Most of the Titans watching averting their eyes due to the fact that the scientists that would normally dress her in a training suit for her tests were unable to dress her this time. When they finally looked back it was to watch her sobbing at her own handiwork of the dead scientist.

"Regret," Raven said with sympathy lighty gracing her voice, "Even for her own torturer. Even in self defence."

Suddenly the girls sobbing stopped and she looked straight up. The timestamp in the corner of the screen coincided with when Willow was being attacked by Crain.

A small smile graced her and she said in a small yet determined voice, "I help."

"Seems like she was the one that helped out Willow," Iris said with a smile.

"That wasn't a fluke," Desiree said.

She stood, walking up to the door and impressively prying it open by herself. She then leaped through. However she immediately screamed and scrambled back in.

In her distress she had not flown and tracked bloody footprints back to her tube were she climbed back in a sobbed.

"She stayed in there for almost a solid twenty four hours," Robin supplied as he fast forwarded.

He stopped and it showed her perking up again when it was obviously the mission that they had just come back from. They watched the end of said mission play out and then Cube plugged in to the console before they exited with the girl in tow.

"Now she is being held and questioned by the Justice League at the Hall of Justice. The reason I showed you this is because I'm thinking about Willow's proposition of giving her sanctuary," Robin announced, leaning over the meeting table with a serious rigidness in his posture.

Raven and Garfield stayed silent and glanced about the room. Waiting for the younger Titans to voice their opinions.

"She saved my sister," Desiree said with grateful determination, "She has my vote to join."

"Seconded," Sesha said with a similar firmness.

"Did you see her through all of that?" Virgil asked, "She fried that dude and is a literal science experiment. Shouldn't we wait till we're sure that she's, um, stable?"

"That's what John is doing at the Hall, right?" Cassie said, "We won't have too much to worry about if she's cleared by the JL."

"J'onzz can scan for moles or psychic parasites but he can't weed out mental scars," Robin said, "She could be prone to outbursts."

"As if outbursts stopped you from letting me join," Sesha said gruffly, "Do any of us get locked up for having a temper?"

"You have a short fuse, yes, but you wouldn't disregard everyone else's safety in a fit of rage," Robin returned.

Sesha sighed and curled her arms tighter over her chest.

"I don't think it's fair to say that she's just gonna go on a rampage when the only environment she's known is the inside of a lab that treated her sub-human," Mar'i said, "Sesha is right, in a way. Stick anyone in a tube and needle them for ten years and I doubt few would take it without breaking."

Sesha relaxed her clenched arms at the agreement.

"What did she say after Willow got her out of the tube?"

Robin stopped the recording and turned the screen off. After the room returned to its normal lighting he spoke.

"She went into detail about how she could sense the backlash of her 'brothers' and 'sisters' dying in other experiments to create a Kryptonian super soldier. She is the only one to survive. She said that after feeling their fear and despair in their final moments she wanted to prevent that suffering from happening elsewhere if she could help it."

Raven nodded and said, "Her feeling Willow's fear and dispelling it was one such act of helping."

Garfield nodded as well, the insinuation of approval at the girl's actions was clear. "She helped save our daughter's life. She has our vote."

"Your vote is noted but you are still League members first, Titan's second," Robin said in a business tone so flat it was hard to tell if he meant any insult by it, "The deciding votes on if she is to stay and be a trained to be a Titan is with full time members."

"Good thing we're full time then," Sesha said as she kicked her chair back to lean on the back two legs. She lifted her legs to put her feet on the table, "As I can feel the rest of the Pack can agree with, she stays here."

Her statement was more a command so Robin did little more than glance at her to show he had heard it.

"Same here," Virgil spoke up, lifting a hand as well, "If she wants to help then we should let her."

"Her power is incredible. If not for her then to keep her in check and watch her," Mar'i said with a hand raised.

Sesha's eye twitched at her comment but said nothing, earning a small smile from her mother who had felt the ember of anger be quashed as soon as it sparked.

"What about who created her?" Conner asked, voicing a previously unexplored question, "Someone will most likely be looking for her or at least clean up the trail for the horrible experiments that happened down there."

"Valid point," Robin said, "Luthor being the lab's benefactor is still speculation. There is also the possibility whoever did lead the operation could very well have died in Crain's farewell party and we don't need to worry about that, but if Luthor or whoever was in charge is looking to tie up loose ends then we have one thing to cover us. Plausible deniability."

"Luthor might have once owned the building but he can play innocent with the condemnation of the building," Conner surmised, "and he won't tip his hand by doing anything to try and capture and kill her because that will only prove guilt."

"Exactly," Robin said, "With her surviving and be living evidence the only winning move is not to play."

"Sounds like your saying we're gonna be her protective custody," Conrad said. He chuckled and tugged his hood over his eyes to lean backwards in a lackadaisical fashion, "Sounds like you barely even need a vote at this point."

Suddenly the doors to the meeting room burst open and Jon flew through.

"She has to stay, Robin!" he shouted as the congregation turned to look at him.

"Did J'onn say she was clean?" Robin asked.

Jon hesitated at the question, possibly due to expecting resistance to his declaration and receiving a rather anticlimactic query instead. "Yes," he said with an almost disappointed shake in his voice.

"Then she is," Robin responded bluntly.

"Oh," Jon said as he floated down to the ground, "Good."

"Did anything come back from her blood tests?" Robin asked.

Jon scratched the back of his neck in a clear show of uncomfortableness.

"She's a clone of me."

* * *

First things first I apologize for the shortness of this one. I wanted to keep going because this has mostly centered on a character that 1) isn't mine and 2) I gave a new backstory (her story is very bare in the comics) but this was the most organic place to stop as well as the fact that I was already behind on uploading it. I feel like I was faster this time around so I feel better on that.

A thanks to DimitraMitsos and I3fanfics for the kind reviews on the last chapter. It's nice to know that my story is so loved and actually missed. Not gonna lie, I have been in a dark place for a while and you two, as well as anyone else that reviewed on earlier chapters, helped. Going back to school and progressing towards a well paying trade was also a benefactor in getting my drive back.


	15. A Hunt to Worship

I hope that this is sooner that last time. I actually had a lot of help thanks to my beta reader Eldritch Sardine! He's helped a lot now that I don't have to worry about editing so much and getting a headache over it.

* * *

The first thing the girl had done after going through introductions with everyone at the tower was ask where they had gotten their names and monikers. Everyone knew she was fishing for inspiration for her own name, and so they told their tales.

Most of the stories didn't seem to peak her interest. That is,until Willow spoke up.

The girl had taken a shine to something about slighting your creator with your moniker. She thanked everyone for the hospitality and shopping trip that had given her the basic essentials of belongings for her new room and left to settle in, as well as think on her own name.

Everyone was admittedly on edge about having the new, almost completely unknown girl in the a Tower after what they had seen in the security footage of the lab, but they made an effort to push it aside in favor of making her feel at home. No one tried to hold what she had to do to survive over her head.

After all, they all knew what kind of _training_ Damian had received from Ra's Al Ghul.

After a few hours of mulling over what she wanted her name to be she had come out and said simply.

"Divine."

Jon had looked taken aback, "You mean like what the scientist called you? Before you . . . umm."

"No. He said I was supposed to be divine and that I wasn't. I don't care what they wanted me to be."

"So like how I use Facet so I can be what I am with pride?" Willow had supplied.

The girl nodded and said, "I am Divine."

Jon had chuckled and put a hand on Divine's shoulder and said, "Better than anything I would have come up with."

* * *

Over the next few days the Titans fell into their usual routines, along with the addition of Divine trying to find a place among them. Robin barred her from leaving the tower until he set up an identity for her and after that any actual hero work until she was properly trained, both with her powers through Jon's help and mental abilities with Raven.

The first day she tried her hand at sparing with Sesha, Jon, Mar'i and Cassie. She got a rough lesson as to who the strongest Titans were, and by the end of it she was calling Sesha 'Miss Angry' much to the older girl's chagrin.

"She is kinda good with her nicknames," Jon had said with a smirk.

The second day she hung out in the game room. No matter how much Conrad and Iris told her it was okay and that everyone gets angry at a game she had still fled after her seventh loss in a row,leaving a crushed game controller in her wake. Only Garfield catching her flying down the hall and telling her of their stash of spares did she calm down and return.

"Now go on and have fun," Garfield had coaxed, "A broken controller or two never stopped a gaming marathon is this tower before!"

The third day she helped Cube and Connor make lunch for the Tower. The pair worked with as much precision and teamwork as they could as to leave Divine not much to do other than hand them various utensils and spices that they needed from time to time.

Cube had an entertaining time watching Connor try to explain the concept of veganism to Divine, as well as the boy trying to worm his way out of explaining why he was putting such care into making Willow's food.

"She's been holed up in her room training for Evo and I wanted to see if some food would help," Connor rushed out, "I finally was able to make a vegan version of my dad's chili so I wanted to surprise her with it. Thankfully it doesn't seem as bad as last time."

"She has been hungry lately," Divine mumbled, wringing her hands restlessly.

"Has she?" Connor asked as he slowly stirred the new vegan chili, "I haven't seen her around much, let alone ask her how hungry she is."

"Is that, umm," Cube hesitated while he started to make a thick meat sandwich, "Something you can sense?"

Divine continued to fidget with her hands as she answered. "Sort of? I've started some meditation with Miss Raven and I'm still unsure how my mental powers work. The scientists only had me test my offensive capabilities. They constantly suppressed anything else that they decided wasn't useful."

Connor and Cube shared a glance. They were both thrown at how casually she spoke of her experience at the labs and were unsure of how to pursue such a topic. She seemed to carry whatever trauma she may have attained there with a resoluteness that was beyond her years.

"Sorry," she said after several seconds of silence, "I made you uncomfortable talking about that, didn't I?"

Caught off guard once again they hesitated in answering. However, Divine clearly could see the answer in their eyes and she flinched slightly, the fidgeting in her hands continuing.

"I'm sorry," she whispered in a small voice. It was an odd and weak sound for the males to hear come from the girl they had watched bend two foot thick titanium. "I sound weird talking about that stuff like it didn't affect me."

"Now, now, little lady," Cube responded quickly. He put his sandwich down and briskly walked over to her, tentatively puttinga hand on her shoulder, "Just 'cuz we don't want to offend you or make _you_ uncomfortable doesn't mean we think you're weird. All that means is we care about ya. As for how you talk about that stuff in the labs, everyone has their own ways of dealing with trauma."

Divine slowly nodded after he was done and looked up at his hand that was on her shoulder, gazing at how the faint blue circuits intermingled with his with his veins under his chocolate skin.

Cube retracted his arm and rubbed it with his other hand before continuing, "Everyone here has their own stuff to deal with, so no one will look twice at someone else's way of living with it."

Divine gulped and nodded again, "I just don't want to come off as odd. I already feel you all walking on eggshells around me. I may have been raised in a tube but they crammed a lot of learning into my head so I'm not stupid. You all think I could go off at any moment."

"That's why Robin had you cleared by Martian Manhunter," Connor reasoned. "You wouldn't be here if we had any reason to doubt you."

"And I have been going over the results and the recovered files from the lab," Robin said.

The trio jumped at the sudden appearance of the caped crusader.

"How does he do that?" Cube muttered as he stepped back for Damian to walk up to the girl.

Robin continued with little hesitation, "The level of brainwashing they attempted on you was incredible. You should have already been a mindless puppet that followed their every command, yet you shrugged it off and Manhunter found almost no trace of any tampering. He said it was like you had taken the pain of the other clones and used it as a shield alongside your already impressive mental abilities."

"They were my brothers and sisters!" Divine shouted but didn't even make Robin flinch.

Divine flushed at her outburst and returned to wringing her hands. "I just," she stuttered, "I just felt them and let myself become numb with the green liquid I was kept in. If I'm honest I was barely aware of time passing. I just let it everything I felt hurting me just bounce off. Only Willow's plight broke through."

"Sesha said it best," Robin said, "'Stick me in a tank for a decade and I'll show you volatile'. She knew that a lesser person would have succumbed long before Willow happened upon that rooftop where you helped her."

Robin turned to leave after speaking and before walking through the doorway back into the common room he turned to side-eye Divine.

"And if you're worried about us being unable to stop you if you do go off, I have my ways of stopping you before you do any real damage," He said as he made his exit.

"He already likes you," Cube said as the Boy Wonder's cape swished about the corner with an impressed whistle

Divine could only force a shaken smile onto her face, "I could feel his intentions. Him imagining how he would throw me in a kryptonite lined cell is him liking me?"

"He would imagine you skewered by kryptonite instead of just weakened by it if he didn't," Connor confirmed. He made his way over to her with a bowl of the vegan chili in his hands and gesturing with a jerk of his head towards the door. "Come on. I'm sure you want to see Willow."

With a smile, Divine nodded and quickly followed.

* * *

Connor knocked on Willow's door with the bowl in hand. Divine was standing nervously to the side.

"I'm in a match!" Willow's voice shouted through the door. "Come in!"

Connor smiled at the evident competitive elation in her voice and opened the door.

Inside Willow was bouncing on her bed with an arcade stick in her lap. She was in the middle of pressing the buttons and trying to hit her on screen opponent whilst avoiding each and every strike he threw out herself. Connor silently entered the room and gestured for Divine to follow him inside.

"Whatcha want? I'm training," Willow asked, her eyes not leaving the screen. She did still briefly take her hand off the buttons to pat the bed in an invitation to sit next to her which they took.

"Robin would disagree, but I brought you some chili," Connor said, presenting the bowl under her face.

"Ew!" Willow shouted and arched her back away from the food, "Why did you bring me meat?! Get it awa-"

She stilled and her hands froze over the controller. Divine giggled when Willow shoved the controller off her lap and grabbed the bowl out of Connor's hands.

"Your dad made a vegan version?! How'd you finally do it?!" she squealed in elation.

"Yep," Connor said, popping the 'p' enthusiastically. "Guess he got tired of me asking." He didn't elaborate due to the fact that he didn't want to admit that his father had caved once he realized his son was asking to make it for Willow.

"You're trying to impress your own pretty bird, huh? Sounds like an interesting gal if she's begging to try the Queen Chili," Oliver had teased while twirling his blond mustache in a manner that made Connor think of the more cheesy villains that he and many other a hero had put away in jail.

"Shut up, dad," Connor muttered aloud.

Willow paused in her scarfing down the chili to look at the boy and asked with a full mouth, "You shay shomfin?"

Connor blushed and glared at Divine when she giggled at his red face. He was at least thankful that the training that Robin had been giving him on suppressing emotions seemed to be paying off. Willow didn't seem to notice his flustered expression.

That or she was too busy fanning her burning tongue. "Spicy!"

"My dad's chili is famous for a reason, Willow. You should have gone slowly," Connor chided with a chuckle.

"I was so excited to try it that I forgot," Willow coughed out. She drove her hand into a small portal and produced a bottle of a white liquid.

"Milk?" Connor said with a raised brow, "I know that milk helps with spiciness but isn't that a line for you?"

"From my grandma's farm," Willow said as she unscrewed the top, "Ethic vegan. I know the cow that made this is happy so-"

With that she took a large gulp from the glass and put it down on her bedside table. No longer feeling the heat she started to chow down on the chili again.

"Sho," Willow started with a full mouth. She swallowed and turned to Divine, "How are you liking the tower so far?"

Divine smiled softly at her, "It's great. The glimpses of whatever homes I took from the scientists pale in comparison."

Connor decided to roll with her casual talk of her powers this time. "How does that work? Do you just sift through memories?" he asked.

"I don't really know. I mostly just grabbed at whatever was there. If they weren't memories of their . . . lab work I clutched onto whatever semblance of normalcy I could get from them. Once they found out about my psychic abilities and shielded my tube I couldn't anymore so I never learned the extent of them," she explained, starting to wring her hands in a fashion Connor was quickly figuring out to be a nervous tick. "It was one of the few things I could do that made that place bearable."

"I'm surprised it was bearable at all," Willow said as she finished the last bites of chili in the bowl, "Thanks Connor. That hit the spot."

Connor imitated Willow's nonchalant attitude at Divine's casual drop of a rather invasive power. He figured that growing up surrounded by people that know what your feeling that made even sharing memories seem trivial.

"Aww, jeez," Willow huffed.

The trio looked at the screen and realized that in her absence Willow's opponent had decided to take advantage and defeated her defenseless character.

Willow snatched up the arcade stick and muttered, "Rematch, rematch, rematch."

Before she could even press a button to get what she was chanting for she felt another mind brush her own.

" _Come down to the basement, please,"_ she heard her mother's voice say.

Too curious to pose a question, she didn't reply. Instead, she heard another voice.

" _Why? What's going on?"_ Sesha's voice said.

" _Oh, it's all of us,"_ Ulrich's voice said.

" _I'll be waiting,"_ Raven said before leaving their mindscape.

"You okay, Willow?" Connor asked, concerned by her sudden silence.

"Yeah, I just have a family meeting to go to now," Willow responded absently as she stood.

* * *

"We finally have a lead on Adonis," Raven said almost as soon as Willow joined the group, the last of their family to arrive into the sub level meeting room.

"How? Zatanna said she was out of ways to scry anything from it," Conrad said.

"She was, but not me," Raven answered, "I left it as a last resort due to the risks but I reactivated the seals with my own blood."

"Excuse me?" Sesha growled, "That thing nearly flayed my skin off and you reactivate it with your own blood?"

She bared a few fangs and inhaled sharply to shout but a firm hand on her shoulder stopped her. She looked over to see Desiree shake her head.

Sesha leveled her breathing and continued, "I assume that you did this in a controlled environment."

"Of course," Raven said. She was unshaken by Sesha's brief, yet justified, flair of anger. It was more of a desperate attempt to find some answers than a logical plan that made her do something so brash, "It may have been dangerous to do so but I had the help of Zatanna and Constantine. I wasn't in any mortal peril."

Sesha exhaled a shaky breath and sat down, pausing only to think about when she had stood in the first place. She couldn't recall.

"As long as you don't go killing yourself," she sighed as she leaned into her chair.

"We were out of options and I had to try," Raven explained. "It payed off, too. Now we have a location on where they made it, and Constantine, your father and I are going to investigate."

"Are you letting us come?" Sesha asked so fast she nearly cut off the end of her mother's sentence.

"I wouldn't have called you here otherwise," Raven said, "I knew you would followed once you realized we were gone and would have put yourselves in danger to help. Knowing that the best course of action is to let you help as long as you do as we say and not make any rash decisions."

Raven looked at Sesha pointedly. Sesha's lip twitched in response and she nodded.

The rest of the teens made no act to speak up after so she continued, "Good. You're father is with Robin as we speak getting your involvement sanctioned. We'll meet him in the hanger. I would of already had us meet there but I figured I would have more resistance in having you comply."

"What would you have done had we not?" Sesha asked.

Raven got up from her seat and walked to the door. Once at the entryway she ran a hand over the surface of the door and it glowed briefly before a hum that the teens were suddenly hyper aware of slowly disappeared.

"What I had to to keep you safe," She said, "Before we meet your father do any of you want to stay behind?"

This time Sesha remained adamantly quite. Slowly Willow raised her hand and bowed her head.

"It's okay, Willow," Raven assuaged. She quickly floated over to put a hand on her shoulder, "I know you're still trying to shake what you saw at the lab."

Desiree looked at her twin, cocked her head to the side and said, "Your on the fence aren't you?"

"It's our fight," Willow mumbled, "I should be there." She turned up he head to look at her mother and said, "You told me to not let them win and be strong. Together."

Raven gave Willow's hair one affectionate pass of her fingers and said, "That I did. We'll be waiting in the hanger for you all once you get in costume."

With that she left in a swirl of darkness.

After a few awkward moments Conrad said, "So, she had planned on locking us in here."

"To keep Sesha from going off the wall," Ulrich said while he crossed his arms.

Sesha raised a finger with a sharp intake of breath. After a moment of holding the finger in the air she started to wag it in a frustrated fashion and growled. "That's fair."

"Then why are you still angry?" Desiree asked.

"Can't I be allowed to try and get rid of it before you accuse me of _wanting_ to be angry?" Sesha growled, "I know why she would have done it and I'm only proving her right. I _get it_."

Desiree shook her hands in a placating manner and stammered, "Fine, fine. That's cool."

"This is probably a time sensitive mission so let's go," Conrad urged.

* * *

They all quietly watched a rather large church that seemed to be in disrepair. How the likes of a so called "super church" came to such a state was a mystery for another day. They were all in a rather dingy hotel room down the street that still gave them a good view and was also far enough away to not draw attention to the unusual green birds that liked to circle the block and perch on the roof of said building. It also went without saying that, with every Logan child, their parents, and Zatanna all trying to look out the same grimy window, things were rather packed.

"Of course it would be a fucking church," Sesha growled.

"Rather typical of a cult," Zatanna said as she glared through the metal blinds.

"Our recon suggests that they're frantic," Garfield said, "Trucks that stagger their exits and go in random directions. They're moving out. They must have picked up on your tracking spell."

Raven nodded grimly, "Then we need to take the chance while we have it. I'll go in and clear a landing for you all then teleport us all in."

After a few tense but fortunately uneventful teleports later they were all inside. From one of the third story balconies that remained generally unused for the little room they provided the group surveyed the scene. The inside still had the looks of a church but it's over sized floor plan lead to a random nature to how the cult had repurposed the square footage they had available. Pews were shoved to the side to make room for whatever weapons and munitions they had left as well as barrels full of what the group didn't wish to dwell on. Various second story balconies had enough space for building equipment and tasks like making enchantments that reminded Sesha, Ulrich and Conrad of they ones that had burned them.

"It's like they want to start a war with us," Raven said in disgusted awe.

"They might as well be doing so," Zatanna said as she deciphered what she could of the magics she could from that distance, "They must have prioritized moving their more valuable assets first. Most of what they have here isn't nearly as extensive as what we saw on Adonis."

"So what's the game plan?" Sesha asked impatiently, "If they moved most of the stuff should we go in and bag as many of 'em as possible?"

"That's the jist," Garfield said, "These balconies are good vantage points to get the jump on anything down there. Spread out to box them in."

"I'll stay here," Zatanna said, "I'm not nearly as stealthy as any of you."

Raven spoke as a black abyss appeared at her feet, "I'll get the altar. We all spring our attack when I teleport there and shield them all in here with us."

The teens and their father all nodded and transformed into various small creatures, sans Ethan, who nonchalantly walked out of the booth as if he belonged there.

" _Stay out of clear lines of sight and you won't have to worry about them noticing you,"_ He said into their minds and they all felt the odd sensation of his powers shield their presence.

It was like as if a heavy quilted blanket had been thrown over their bodies. It weighed them down and it almost felt like they were swimming rather than walking yet at the same time they felt the need to to constantly tell themselves that beneath that foreign feeling was still their familiar forms, hidden under their brother's magics.

When Ethan spoke one last time, it was almost startling to hear his voice amidst the strange sensation and the moment after they almost questioned if they had even heard it at all.

" _Good luck, everyone."_

* * *

I hope that doesn't leave everyone hanging. I will hopefully pry what I want to happen out of my head soon so I wont leave you guys like that for too long. Thanks again to Sardine and his help eliminating hours off of my process. Review, follow, do all that fun stuff. Later!


	16. Blood and Shame

Jack didn't want to be there.

He just had a good friend. Sure his friend was quirky with his beliefs and glared at crosses or any other Christian visage whenever they passed by them, but he didn't really shove whatever sentiments he had down other peoples' throats.

So when his friend invited him to a gathering the only doubts he had was cast aside at the prospect of free pizza.

He was a starving art student. Cut him some slack.

But when he realized the cool intricate circles they were drawing were being drawn in blood, _human_ blood, Jack knew there was no running.

He kept his head down and didn't question anything. He knew that would only sign his death warrant with his 'friend' being a loyal follower of whatever cult he stumbled into. Creepy rituals and murmured chants came one after the other, and while he didn't protest, he was merely biding his time until it was over and he could get as far away as he possibly could, never to go back.

Therefore, when shit hit the fan Jack dove for cover as six green blurs exploded into action, seemingly from out of nowhere, and began to reign down chaos around him. The one coherent thought screaming in his head was to run, but the only exits he knew of were blocked. These wackos had to have a few secret exits but the poor sap was cannon fodder that didn't have rights to such luxuries.

All he could do was make himself as small as possible while his 'friend' ignored his plight to grab one of the oddly engraved swords, dipping it into one of the barrels that made Jack retch every time he passed it, as well as happy he wasn't privy to know just what they contained.

He had been in too deep the moment he took a bite of pepperoni.

* * *

This was easy.

Getting the jump on them had been the right call. They were ill prepared and undermanned for a full assault from the complete Logan family.

Sesha scoffed as she caught another blade in her hand. The scales she morphed on her palms and fingers dulled any cut she would have received but it didn't stop the burning that the runes made from the blood congealed into the sword's engravings.

She ripped it out of the cultist's hands and swung her other fist into his face.

" _They already got better at the rune shit,"_ she called into her mind as she examined the engravings on the sword in her hand.

She got a reply but it was hard to make out through the screaming of the man whose nose she just broke.

" _Sorry,"_ Sesha thought as she gave the screaming man a swift jab to render him unconscious, " _Can you think that again?"_

" _Some of the cultists don't want to be here,"_ Willow's voice spoke up.

" _Really?"_ Sesha asked. Her disinterest in knowing the cultists' true allegiances was potent. They were waging a war on her family. They needed to be stopped.

" _There is a lot of red around, but I am seeing some yellow too,"_ Willow explained, " _Some of them are only scared."_

The proclamation only served to make Sesha angrier. Her nails grew to talons and she grew a good few inches in height and muscle width. _They_ were the sacred ones? While herself and her family had had what little sense of security they could get in hero work shattered by direct attempts to tear them down?

"They don't deserve to be scared!" Sesha roared aloud as she broke the blade in her hand in two.

Her mother's voice tried to cut through her anger, "Sesha, no!"

She didn't seem to hear it as she broke the arm of another that dared to raise a tainted blade against her. They tried to harm her. They tried to harm her _family._ Her baby brothers and sisters.

They will have no quarter.

She went from target to target and left a heaps gasping pain in her wake.

"Sesha!"

Willow was in front of her. Between her and one of her clan's transgressors.

"Move," Sesha growled at her.

"No," Willow shouted as she shook her head and spread her arms to shield a cowering cultist, "Not all of them even want to hurt us!"

Willow stared Sesha down for a moment before looking over her older sibling's shoulder at something behind her with wide scared eyes. Sesha felt the familiar sensation of her siblings' shields coming to protect her. However, what wasn't familiar to her was the feeling of said shield failing as the runes on the blade glowed a menacing red seconds before it sunk into her.

All Sesha could think to say was a lame, "Huh," as her gaze lowered to take in her bicep. It for some reason was no longer connected to the rest of her arm and looking at it made the pain hit her. It screamed in agony but she did not. It instead only made her want to make the man who had cleaved it off scream instead. The thud of her arm hitting the floor amplified by her superhuman hearing only served to make her even angrier. It quickly faded into a red haze of rage as a flicker and crackle of fire brought her attention to her severed arm just in time to see it crumble to blue fire and ash.

The only thing that snapped her out of the fog was the pain in what remained of her arm doubling, and looking back at it to see the same fire wreathing it as well.

Finally, a scream ripped out of Sesha's throat filled with so much pain that even the cultists paused at the sound.

Willow, who had been frozen in horror, cried out in harmony with her sister and ran over to try and stop the arcane fire eating at what was left of Sesha's arm. She had hardly even started before Sesha turned and gave the cultist who had attacked her a back hand with her remaining arm so fierce a wet snap echoed throughout the room and he was sent sprawling to the floor.

After this, cries of pain, regret, and rage ripped from the throats of nearly every member of the Logan family, as each member respectively either began to sprint towards Sesha's side as well, or returned to the cultists once again with faces of stone. None, however, equaled that of Garfield and Raven, who turned back to the fanatics with eyes full of fire and all thoughts of mercy forgotten.

"It won't stop," Willow cried out hysterically as she tried to extinguish the fire Sesha's arm had become with her own magic, "It won't stop!"

"Lepsid scigam!" Zatanna chanted and thrust a spell at the blade in the hand of the prone cultist that had maimed Sesha.

The runes on the blade faded and the sword shattered.

Willow breathed a small sigh of relief as the fire dissipated.

Conrad and Desiree finally reached Willow's side as well to heal their eldest who was now in the floor. They weren't even needed in the battle anymore. The warpath that their parents were now carving needed no help.

Sesha was groaning and grasping at her right shoulder so hard that she was causing even more blood to drip down and collect on the floor next to her.

Desiree took her sister's face in her hands and spoke. "Sesha, look at me. Concentrate. You're all about adding animal DNA to your own. You need a starfish, lizard, axolotl. You need to help us with your regeneration."

"I don't care about my arm," Sesha groaned through clenched teeth, "Jus-ha _haa_."

She was interrupted by a wave of pain that caused her to roll over and clutch her shoulder again.

"Just stop the pain!" Sesha finally gasped out.

"If it's this bad she could go into shock!" Conrad said urgently, "Raise up the burn area and her feet!"

Willow and Desiree did what was ordered, Desiree gently grasping and raising the charred stump and Willow raising her sister's flailing feet while they sobbed. The battle around them was already over by now. Zatanna had disarmed the remaining cultists and Garfield and Raven were reigning themselves in as they ran over to their gathered children.

"Come on, Sesha," Desiree said, fighting back tears of her own. "Ignore it. Push through it. Don't let this beat you."

As she spoke she was gathering her healing magic around Sesha's bicep and healing away the blackened flesh. Raven fell to her knees beside them and joined her hands in the effort to heal the severed limb. They could feel the rage and sorrow flowing off her and could hear her chanting their mantra under her breath. Most of all through their tears they saw her four burning crimson eyes with tears of their own in their corners.

Soon Sesha had a pale, scarred, but healed stump and was no longer panting through the waves of pain. Raven shifted herself so she could place her eldest daughter's head on her lap and started to stroke her perpetually disheveled hair.

"Sonova _bitch,_ " Sesha growled. "That was the worst."

She looked down at her missing arm and heaved a sigh. "That's gonna keep me off duty for a few weeks."

"You were just lucky enough to not get your head cut off and all you care about being pulled from duty?" Desiree said, forcing a laugh to hold the tears at bay. Raven merely tsked at her daughter's everlasting persistence, head shaking slowly in a mix of relief and reproach.

"If I were Ulrich I would be jumping for joy at the prospect of a vacation," Sesha said, casting said brother an amused look.

"Hey! I haven't made excuses for days off in almost a year!" Ulrich shouted in [added] indignation, "Stop holding that over my head, especially when Conrad is way worse than I ever was!"

"I found time to be lazy," Conrad interjected, "You used to _make_ time."

"Now if we're gonna talk about annoyed it's gonna be at how _frustrated_ I'll be till I regrow it," Sesha said with a cheeky grin, "I lost my dominant arm."

Raven's eyebrow twitched but she didn't let any annoyance creep into her tone, although a layer of a dark guttural tongue still pervaded underneath as she still had two pairs of glowing eyes, "Come on. Let's get you back to the tower."

Garfield had been standing to the side, uncomfortable with his inability to help in the situation, but at the prospect of at least something to aid his daughter he walked up and scooped her right off the floor with ease.

"Whoa!" Sesha said as she was settled into her father's arms, "I can still walk, dad. I didn't lose a leg."

"Really?" Garfield said with a tone that was jovial but a glare that gave no room to argue, "You feel like a sack of potatoes with how limp you are so I can't see you standing on your own."

Sesha huffed and pushed her bottom lip out, but her limp arm and need to rest her head on her father's chest to keep it from falling backwards was telling of how tired out she actually was.

Raven took a breath and for the first time since Sesha's first wail of pain her eyes returned to a single amethyst pair.

Zatanna walked up to Raven and put a hand softly to her shoulder. "I'll get Constantine to help clean up. You get her home and rest."

Raven met her eyes and nodded in thanks, her own hand placed atop the sorceress' gratefully. She didn't quite trust her own voice after screaming herself hoarse at the cultists while tearing through them. She was just thankful that she had retained the control, hard as it was, to be sure none of those she took out were harmed.

Permanently at least.

* * *

"What happened!?" Jon shouted at the sight of Garfield supporting a one armed Sesha into the common room, her one remaining arm hooked over his shoulder.

"Stop yelling," Sesha said, grimacing at the loud noise, "I'm fine."

Jon flew over to gesture at the stump where Sesha's right arm should be. "I would hardly call that fine!"

"Jeez, girl," Cube said, "I hope the other guy looks worse."

Sesha gave a weak chuckle. "I broke his jaw I think."

"Oof," Connor interjected, looking up from the game he was playing to look at Sesha.

"' _Oof'_? That's _it_?" Jon quoted incredulously.

"Come on, Farm Boy," Sesha said as she waved her stump at him, a sly grin growing on her face. "Tis but a scratch."

"Scratch?!" Jon grabbed at his hair. "Your arm's gone!"

"No it isn't," Sesha immediately shot back with a british accent, ecstatic that he had fallen into her referential trap.

Instead of furthering her Monty Python reference, Jon just stared at her with his mouth hanging open.

After rolling his eyes affectionately Garfield looked down at her and said, "Are you done chatting or do you want me to take you to the Medbay?"

"I can escort her if it's not too much trouble," Jon proposed. "I've treated her before."

"For the love of Azar. I'm not an invalid!" Sesha cried in exasperation. She pushed away from her father and took a step.

"I'm just a little tired."

And promptly fell forward, on a quick one-way trip to the floor.

Just before collision, Jon appeared before bed in a blur of motion to catch her. She rested limply against him as Jon wrapped his arms around her to keep her from falling. Sesha's only reaction was to widen her eyes comically at having her face now being flush with Jon's chest.

"'Just a little tired'?" Jon parroted with a smirk.

Sesha didn't hear him, however, as she was having an uncharacteristic meltdown as she silently appreciated the firmness of Jon's pectorals.

"Sesha?" Jon asked with concern as his smirk fell.

Willow leaned over to Desiree with a conspiratorial mental whisper into her twin's mind, " _She is_ so _enjoying that."_

"My body won't move anymore," Sesha said, "and while that is very convenient and agreeable timing, I'm not saying that just to stay nuzzled into your chiseled barrel of a chest."

"But it's a bonus, right?" Willow added with a cheeky grin.

"Oh god. Don't start flirting in here. Not in front of everyone ," Conrad groaned from the couch.

Sesha grumbled into Jon's chest as he blushed, before all but dragging her out of the room in his arms, various pairs of eyes and knowing smirks following his form until the door closed behind.

"She said she would be 'frustrated' without her right arm, if you know what I mean!" Willow called out after them with a smirk. "Maybe you could help with that!" She laughed, stopping only when Raven reached over to smack the back of her head.

* * *

Later that night Raven stopped by the medbay to check on her daughter. She could sense that Sesha and Jon were asleep inside, so she slid the door open slowly as to not wake them.

When she peeked inside she first noticed that she could already sense that Sesha was no longer experiencing any pain from her severed limb and the magic that had rent it off. Then she noticed the slow but noteworthy progress of her arm's regeneration. Though only a few centimeters had been grown it was apparent that Jon had once again helped Sesha with her healing utilizing his microscopic heat vision.

Finally, just before she was going to close the door she spotted that Sesha's remaining hand was interlaced with Jon's. Though, who had made the move to grab the other's hand was a mystery to her.

* * *

The next morning was a tad awkward with Sesha walking in and making a fuss over trying to get herself breakfast and, understandably, having difficulty doing so with one arm. She blew off anyone that tried or even offered to help her with a snarl, unruly hair standing on end. Even Jon.

Thankfully Cube dispelled said tension when he had greeted her by raising both of his hands and saying, "Gimme ten?"

Sesha responded with a gut punch, leaning down as he buckled over to whisper into his ear, "I still got five to give you."

"Got it," Cube wheezed out with a slightly pained smile, to which Sesha responded with a sly smile of her own before she went on trying to eat her waffles.

Cube, in the meantime, staggered slightly over to the fridge to retrieve his own meal. After opening it and rummaging around he popped back out with a heavy scowl on his face.

"Who took it?!" He yelled at the room.

Iris and Mari looked up from their own meals at him.

"Took what?" Mari asked.

"My sandwich!" Cube yelled as he flailed his arms at the fridge, "My triple decker!"

"Your slaughterhouse?" Sesha clarified coyly.

Cube glared at her and Iris slowly got out of her chair and went to put her plate in the sink. Then she became a blur that streaked to the door. Unfortunately for the speedstress, instead of the door opening and granting passage for her it stayed sealed and she slammed into it to fall back on her rump.

"Ow! Come on!" she groaned as she rubbed her now sore head, sending Cube a dirty look.

Cube shouted across the room, "Ey! You're a suspect and that means this room is on lockdown! This is the second time this week and I want answers!"

"But I didn't eat it!" Iris shouted back from her spot on the floor.

"Who was it that stole Connor's chili?" Cube asked sternly. At this, even Connor paused his game to look over at Iris with a piercing gaze

Iris got up, rubbing her still-aching face and said with some hesitation, "Me."

"Exactly," Cube declared, "Now fess up!"

"But it wasn't me!" Iris whined.

Cube was about to rebuke her when a waffle collided with his shoulder. Whatever he was about to say died in his throat and he slowly turned to where the thrown waffle originated. A sour looking Sesha still had her arm extended, having just flung the waffle from off her fork.

"As much as I enjoy hearing a carnivore being denied a meal, she's telling the truth," Sesha said. She then let her arm fall and went back to trying to eat the rest of her waffle. Only to find that in her tenacity to strike Cube with her breakfast confection she had flung all of them and only hit home with one.

"Dangit," she mumbled.

Two seats over from her Divine leaned over to Jon and whispered, "Is this normal?"

Jon chuckled and replied, "Oh, you have no idea."

"Wait a minute," Cube said as he peeled the waffle off of him, "How do you know?"

Sesha sighed while rolling her head to the side in exasperation. She looked at him as her head lolled to the side, "Cause I'm an empath, numbnuts. I can tell when someone is lying. Also, are you forgetting that you're connected to the cameras?"

"I checked em already. Nothin' there but an anomaly at around midnight," Cube said and flung the waffle back at Sesha.

Before she could raise her fork to intercept the waffle it was caught in a black nimbus.

"Why are you throwing your food instead of eating it?" Raven said from the entryway.

"'Cause Cube is too loud and whining about his meatshop he calls a sandwich," Sesha said. "Wanted to shut him up."

"You're regenerating an entire limb right now so you need to eat," Raven ordered sternly, obviously without a care for her excuse.

"I know, I know," Sesha grumbled as she raised her arms in defeat. Or at least an arm and a stump.

"Your plate is empty so I'll make you some more," Raven said as she flew over to the kitchen to retrieve a mixing bowl and some flour.

At this, Sesha's face paled and every Titan within earshot took that as their que to leave the impending hazard zone the kitchen was about to become.

"Why is everyone running?" Divine asked.

"It's okay, mom!" Sesha said with a shaky grin. "Jon offered to help me!"

Jon, the only Titan that didn't scatter, decided to have mercy on her. "It's fine Ms. Logan. I already made some more that she can have."

Sesha almost kissed him for that.

* * *

Later in the day Damian returned to the Tower from whatever mission he had with the Bat family and Cube came to him with the footage of his sandwich being stolen.

"What do you mean, 'anomaly'?" Damian asked, perturbed that someone was able to sneak around his Tower.

"I mean I have no idea what it is," Cube clarified, "It's like Photoshop in real time."

Robin watched the footage again. It was hard to describe the odd effect that passed across the view of the camera. Almost like the figure was cut out of every frame or was completely covered in vantablack, completely obscuring any details and rendering it a silhouette. Beyond that it wasn't defined enough to make out even a gender.

"What I want to know is why go through all the trouble for a sandwich," Cube asked with a hand scratching his head in curiosity, "Why go through the trouble when I could just make one for whoever it is."

"That's simple," Damian said, "Beyond the obvious guilt of stealing from a teammate there is one other possibility."

Cube raised a brow at him. "What's that?"

Damian met his eyes and said with a surprising weight, "Shame."

* * *

Iris creeped around the corner of the dark hallway. It was around midnight and the speedstress was cranky. She had cut breakfast short thanks to Cube's accusations and had to snack all day to make up the lost food. Speedsters have a large calorie intake. Don't judge.

She got the camera function on her communicator up and looked through the door to the common room. Thankfully the person rummaging through it seemed preoccupied with stuffing their face with whatever they could grab from the fridge.

Iris smirked. _Now Cube can shut up about me taking from the fridge 'cause I caught the real culprit red handed._

In a blur of speed Iris was right next to the figure and she snapped a picture of them. The figure gasped at the flash and turned.

For several seconds, Iris was too stunned at what she saw to react as the figure burst into hysterics and pushed her aside. She remained motionless as they ran to the sink, where they perfervidly shoved a finger down their throat, forcing up whatever they had just scavenged from the fridge in a cacophony of gags and wretches before fleeing from the room.

Finally regaining her basic functions, Iris stupidly looked from the slab of meat on the floor to the newly taken picture on her communicator, the concrete evidence before her not seeming to -not able to- register. She slowly took a deep breath, eyes finally settling on the image of Willow's frozen, tear stricken face as she pushed the raw meat into her mouth.

* * *

That fucking sucked. If you hate me for what I did to Sesha and Willow . . . I agree with you. I hated that. Shout out to Eldritch Sardine again for Beta reading. Go read his stuff. But I'll be honest more people read his stuff than mine.

Tell me how much in a review! Thanks to anyone that's left one already and leave another!


	17. Facet and Chimera

"Willow! Please come out!" Desiree sobbed as she pounded on the door. She was in her pajamas, having just been about to go to bed before a maelstrom of anguish assaulted her emotions from nearby. She banged on the door to her twin's room. She had spent over an hour doing so, with no progress to show for it.

The ruckus had attracted the entire tower gathered behind her, and Willow only seemed to cry harder the more Titans came into the hall.

"Go away!" Willow's voice screamed through the door. It was choked so full of anguish and shame that Desiree felt the familiar prick of tears at the corners of her eyes, thanks to her empathic connection to her sister.

"It's okay, Willow! Just let us help you!" Conrad begged from just behind Desiree.

"No!" Willow wailed, "I'm a monster! I liked it! I wanted it _raw!_ I craved _blood!_ "

"Please Willow," Iris pleaded through the door, "You're not a monster! You're our sister!"

Divine and Connor stood just behind them. Both wanted to offer support but they seemed unable to find the words to do so.

As for Sesha, to say she was agitated would be an understatement. Fur and spines grew all over her body, all standing on edge. She paced back and forth with one hand massaging her stump in a futile attempt to alleviate the phantom pain cropping up from the stress of the situation. The only ones that stood near to the seething young woman were Jon and Mari, only keeping enough distance to stay out of her path.

Raven tried to get everyone's attention but her empathy was going haywire with all of the strife and it had her crying almost as hard as her twin daughters. Though most of her plight may as well could have been genuine. Despite the rivers flowing down her face, she was the most composed of the assembly, the only motion in her rigid stance being slight tremors running through her body from the effort required to keep her emotions in check.

Conrad sighed dejectedly. "Our presence is only making things worse for Willow."

"Are you saying we should just leave her!?" Ulrich snapped from where he was leaning by the door, "We can't do that now! Of all times!"

"Stop getting angry. It'll solve nothing," Conrad said as he looked at his brother, eyes calm.

Ulrich stayed rooted where he was and merely crossed his arms. "Then stop giving stupid suggestions."

Conrad's eyebrows rose and mouth opened as if to speak, but instead he snapped it shut with narrowed eyes. The two stared each other down briefly, before Conrad huffed and threw his hood up.

If anyone had thought anything about the tense exchange they didn't voice it.

Sesha stopped her pacing to turn to the wall opposite Willow's door and punched it. Even though she was weakened, the wall caved around her fist with a metallic crunch. Everyone quieted and looked at the outburst.

Sesha growled loudly. "I hate problems I can't punch."

She huffed a few breaths before yanking on her hand, only to realize it was stuck in the wall. She was only saved by Jon calmly peeling the metal away.

After she quieted down the only sound was Willow's soft sobs through the door.

Desiree pursed her lips and, in a wave of darkness, melted into the door. For a moment everyone thought that she had gotten inside but then another splotch of darkness opened in the wall beside the door Desiree had just phased through and she stepped out from it with a perplexed look on her face.

"She's too good at portals. Only mom can force her way in," Conrad surmised.

"Which I will not do," Raven interjected from her spot a few feet outside the main cluster surrounding the door. From beside her Garfield eased his way between the teens at his daughter's door.

"Willow," he started calmly, "I know what you're going through. I had this happen to me once when I was your age. When the Beast first woke up inside me I did a few things I regret. Ate meat, back talked to Nightwing. I even insulted your mother."

From inside the room, the sobbing quieted and turned to sniffles. Those outside pretended not to notice, but Garfield couldn't stop a small smile to come to his face.

"There you go," he added. "Just some beast-demon puberty for you."

"Dad!" Desiree stage whispered at him.

Garfield just shrugged and stepped away from the door.

"Not sure what else we can do that won't just be more banging on her door. That'd probably just annoy her more," he finished with a heavy heart.

After a few tense seconds the Titans unrelated to the girl behind the door started to edge away, heeding Conrad's advice of giving Willow her space. Only, Ulrich seemed to bristle as he watched them leave his sister in what could be her greatest hour of need.

However, just as Iris reached the turn in the hallway, head lowered in guilt, an ear-splitting scream pierced the entire hallway.

Everyone froze. Everyone but Sesha, who's irises had become slits and was in front of the door before the cry had even finished.

"Fuck that," She muttered, raising a foot.

With a roar rivaling what she belted out during battle she kicked the door, which crumpled amd twisted out of the wall in normally slid into and off it's railings into the room itself. It hadn't even hit the floor before she was inside, but what she found was a sight which stopped her in confusion.

Willow was curled up on her bed with back pushed against the wall. She had pronounced tear stains on her face as well as dried vomit and blood at the edges of her mouth. Sesha could smell that the blood was actually just myoglobin from whatever meat she had eaten.

That didn't make it much better.

The thing that confused her beyond reason was the second occupant of Willow's mattress.

On the bed lay a savage looking scythe, appearing to be forged from a revolting combination of shadow and flesh. The handle was a disturbing mixture of sinew and a metal that looked to be made from shadow and the tang was pulsing muscle and ropes of darkness instead of veins. The blade itself was serrated lethally and a collection of black feathers hung from the tang.

Willow was staring at it with shock and disgust from her respective spot on the bed.

Sesha stared too. "What the fuck?" she deadpanned as everyone shuffled into the room after her.

* * *

"What are we looking at?" Raven asked the other members of the Justice League Dark. She hated leaving Willow in such a trying time but the appearance of the weapon left her little choice. She looked out to the gathered League members hoping that they had some ideas as to whatever the thing was that was ailing her daughter back at the Tower.

"Something from Hell itself," Jason said. He winced, looking away from the projected image of the ghastly scythe. "Etrigan does not like it. He says we should destroy it."

"We can't," Raven responded. "Any force that would bend normal metal does nothing to it. Try to melt it and it just seems to stay cold. Jon is nearly as strong as Clark yet he couldn't bend it at all."

"Why don't we have it sent here to test?" Zatanna suggested.

"It doesn't like being far from Willow," Raven said with a scowl. "It's always teleporting back to her. Distance or attempt to destroy it being the trigger."

"What if she tried?" Constantine asked.

"She barely wants to be in the same room as it, let alone touch it herself," Raven growled. "I don't want her to touch it either."

"When did it manifest?" Jason asked.

"Shortly after she locked herself in her room. After she-," Raven hesitated, "After she binged on raw meat and threw it up after Iris caught her in the act."

"That mustav been ugly," Constantine commented.

Raven would have responded with a scathing remark of her own, but two things held her back. One being after spending the whole day attempting to comfort her hysterical daughter had simply left her too drained to argue, and the other that when she reached out with her empathic senses, Raven realized that Constantine truly did feel for Willow with his comment.

"Yes," Raven muttered dejectedly. "It was."

"So it's tied to her and seems unable to be destroyed," Zatanna summarized. "What else is there about it that we know?"

Raven sighed. "It only appeared a few hours ago. All we know now is what Damian has gathered with Jon's help. That and the fact that it manifested during a high stress situation."

"Are there any details about the scenario that could be important? No matter how small?" Dr. Fate asked.

Raven pondered the question. She was having some trouble parsing the memories with how flooded with Willow's anguish they were. However there was one detail that stuck out to her.

"There is one," she started, "Garfield calmed her down by saying that he had gone through something similar back when he was young. He said it was just puberty."

Constantine huffed at the implication. "As easy it would be to just pin this on hormones it wouldn't make much sense with the first three already passing that step."

"We know that," Raven said with a side eye at him. "It was mostly to calm her down. My point is that the moment she was calmed down was when the scythe presumably appeared. As if it was waiting for that specific moment."

"So it didn't appear at her emotional peak, but at the lull after it," Dr. Fate said, "What would have made it come to her _after_ she calmed down?"

"I don't know," Raven said as she shook her head and put a hand to her face in weariness. "But I know we need to keep an eye on the damned thing."

* * *

Sesha was livid. Willow was suffering still and she could even feel her sister's turmoil from her bed. Through the protective runes put up by Zatanna, too. Yet she was being forced back into the medbay to continue her regeneration.

She had some solace in knowing that Willow was in the medbay too but they were in separate rooms and everyone who was still permitted visitation was with Willow. That was a slim number considering that Conrad had slipped into playing games to distract himself and Ethan did a similar distraction tactic by taking Ulrich to train his emergent powers. The only ones in there were Iris and Desiree. Sesha didn't mind given the fact that she wanted to be with her sister too, but it still made her want to leap out of the bed all the more.

Her only obstacle being the sole Titan that was with her. He was also the only person besides her parents that could actually hold her in the room efficiently.

"I'm sorry, Sesha. I know you want to see Willow, but you need to rest," Jon placated.

"Bullshit," she growled with arms crossed. Or rather, arm. It's hard to pull off that pose with only one.

"You overexerted yourself kicking her door down earlier and you need to rest," Jon calmly assuaged. "That was no small feat."

Sesha only raised a brow at him in disbelief.

"For you," he added with a small smile.

Sesha rolled her eyes. "You could sneeze on the door and blast it down."

Jon's smile fell at her harsher tone, devoid of it's usual playful edge. He carefully flew over to the side of her bed. "What good would it do her if you just keep pushing yourself too far, setting your healing back further, and just ending up stuck in here even longer?"

"It's barely necessary in the first pace," Sesha huffed. "I feel like I can take on Adonis myself right now."

"Really?" Jon asked skeptically. "With one arm?"

Sesha turned her head down at her stump, now almost regrown to the elbow with a dismissive glance. "I don't know why but I feel like I'm even stronger than before. Like I gotta recharge."

A curious look flashed across Jon's face at the information, before it returned to one of sympathetic comfort.

"How so? Like you got a full night's rest?"

"Not really," Sesha said with an air of appreciation, as if winning a prize. "It's more like a nonstop adrenaline rush without the downsides."

Jon looked over at the heart monitor but remembered that they had never actually hooked her up to it. Realizing that he could just feel her pulse instead he raised two fingers to her neck. As he felt her pulse he glanced at her pupils as well.

"You're heart rate is pretty slow and your eyes aren't dilated," Jon concluded as he looked from eye to eye, "I will admit that you kicking down that door was-."

"Pretty hot?" Sesha interrupted with a smirk. Jon's eyes immediately focused back on her as a whole, and his hand, which had remained resting gently on her throat, withdrew quickly.

"Much stronger than most kicks I've seen you give," Jon finished with a smirk of his own.

Sesha chuckled and let her head fall back onto her pillow for the first time since getting into the bed. "It's not that impressive when you think of secretary birds."

"There she is," Jon murmured with a smile.

Sesha returned it. She couldn't let the scowl underneath surface and break the dam containing her sea of fury.

Where it was coming from was as much a mystery as that damn scythe.

* * *

Willow gave a shuddering breath and her twin grasped her hand a bit tighter.

Desiree turned her head to make sure for the tenth time that she and Iris were effectively blocking the scythe that was leaning in the corner of the room from Willow's line of sight.

"I'm sorry," Willow mumbled quietly.

"Willow, I know you would never eat meat of your own volition," Desiree comforted. "We'll figure out what happened."

"What happened was that I turned into a monster," Willow answered flatly. "I ate meat and wanted more."

"We don't know that for sure, little lady," a hick British accent said.

Iris and Desiree wheeled around to see a man in a trench coat standing in the doorway, the action moving them from their positions taken up the block the scythe from view, and Willow shrank away at the sight of the weapon still leaning motionlessly against the wall. Desiree shifted to shield her twin but it was difficult to do so while looking at the newcomer.

"Constantine? What are you doing here?" Desiree asked with wide surprised eyes.

The man sauntered in the room a few steps and looked over the weapon in the corner of the room.

"To take a gander at this lovely monstrosity," he said with a smile on his face.

"Where are our parents?" Desiree asked in an even tone. Constantine was a strange man that dragged misery wherever he went.

"No need for the caution, little miss," Constantine said as he continued to look at the scythe, "I'm here to help with this while your mum looks for clues with Dr. Fate. As for you father, he's prolly with her for all the good he would do in the research part."

"It's not caution. It's indifference," Desiree said while her brows furrowed at the subtle jab at her father. "Because you're a bit of an asshole."

"While I wont deny that," Constantine grunted as he stood, "don't wear that tone too much, cause you'll end up like me."

Desiree hid a sneer at the thought of being anything like the arrogant, cigarette-smelling man.

"Why are you here?" Desiree prodded again with an edge to her tone.

"Sheesh. Puttn my ass to the fire just like your mum," he mumbled not to quietly before responding. "While your parents are out at Fate's place reading I'm here to make sure nothing goes bump in the night."

He looked over at the scythe again, "Nothin _more_ , at least."

"I don't think Sesha will like that," Willow murmured.

"It don't matter what she likes. I'm here for your safety from whatever this is," shrugged, waving a dismissive hand to the scythe.

"My hero," Desiree drawled.

"I'm here on your mum's request. I don't need you acting like her," Constantine sighed as he fiddled with something in his coat pocket.

"Well, she is my mother," Desiree bit back with deadpan.

* * *

Sesha fiddled restlessly in her bed. She now had a bit of a forearm thanks to Jon, who was sleeping in the chair off to the side of her bed. She tried to coax him to leave and sleep in his own bed but he remained adamant about his 'security detail'. She had chuckled to cover up her scowl at the prospect of having to sneak past him.

She had wanted to visit her sister since the start of her 'incarceration'.

Shut up, she's still pissed.

Unfortunately her guard was vigilant and woke whenever she tried to leave quietly. After waiting for a considerable amount of time after Jon fell asleep for the fourth time she did something she was not prone to do often.

She remained completely still and chanted as quietly as possible before she started to shift into an immaterial smoky black mist and pass through the bed and wall. When the mist passed to the other side of the wall she resumed her solid form and stumbled a few steps.

 _Teleporting ain't my thing,_ she thought to herself and quietly made her way down the hallway. As she slunk slowly down to the other medical rooms she knew that she would get an earful from her siblings as well as Jon but the hot coal of anger that wouldn't quench was starting to get unbearable, demanding that she see Willow right _now_.

She figured at least seeing her sister safe and asleep would calm her down. She couldn't even reach out with her empathy due to the heavy warding that was put up by Zatanna. She can barely sense someone in the same room, let alone someone in another one entirely.

On the flip side of her misfortune, she didn't have far to walk to get to said room in the medical wing. It hardly took her a few minutes to cross the distance, even in her somewhat disabled state, as well as needing to move slowly and quietly to avoid any possible detection.

"Why are you up out of bed?"

Sesha's head snapped up at the voice just as a faint presence filtered in to her empathy through the wards. The decrepit and dreary aura that reminded her of old fact that he had obviously shielded his entry and presence in the Tower irritated her.

"Constantine," Sesha growled. "Why are you here?"

"Are all of you gonna ask me that?" He grumbled.

Sesha narrowed her eyes at the man barring her way to her sister. "It's a valid question."

Constantine sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, yeah. You don't gotta be so mean when you ask it though."

"And you don't gotta be here instead of my parents," Sesha retorted, a mocking snarl curling her lips as she spoke, the rage within her beginning to ignite at a quickening pace.

Constantine froze and eyed her with a raised brow.

"I get that you all don't like me much, but what did I ever do to warrant this attitude?" Constantine asked with a raised brow.

"I don't know," Sesha grunted through clenched teeth. "And frankly, right now, I don't care."

Constantine stayed quiet after hearing that. He looked contemplative and wary, unsure of how to deal with the angry young woman.

"All I know is that you did something to have my mom hold a grudge against you for longer than I've been alive, so it must be something huge," Sesha continued after Constantine's continued silence. "And besides that you're just an asshole."

"You want to see your sis, don't you?" Constantine asked, changing the subject in a jarring fashion.

"Yeah. That is why I'm here," Sesha scowled as she crossed her arms, minus one hand. "I just needed to make sure she was okay."

Constantine wordlessly stepped aside and waved his hand to bid her entry. Sesha lowered her head and lumbered forward with her hand to the wall. Something was causing her pulse to become erratic. Constantine's silence? His sudden evasive attitude and agreeableness? Why did everyone treat her like that? Like she was about to attack them?

"Sesha?" Jon's voice called out.

Sesha's head snapped up again and she saw Constantine looking over her shoulder at what she assumed where Jon was standing. Or hovering. She didn't hear his footsteps. She froze and the hand that was against the wall clenched into a fist. " _What_?" Her voice had lowered, now a dangerous growl.

"You need to get some rest," he said with a drawl that made it sound like he was still half asleep.

"I want to see my sister," she growled.

Constantine's eyes darted back and forth between the two young adults in some silent plee. Their constant flickering, as well as the feeling that they seemed to unfocus as they passed over herself, angered Sesha even further, the fire burning within now just barely contained by her force of will.

The man raised a hand up at Jon. "Let the young lady see her sister. What harm can it do?"

"She looks ready to fall over," Jon protested

" **I want . To see. My sister,"** Sesha interrupted, her voice now so low that the dark, dangerous tone could hardly even be identified as hers.

If Jon wasn't fully awake beforehand, then he was instantly when Sesha turned to look at him. Two sets of glowing red eyes burned at him, a look that until then, they had only ever seen on her mother. As the red glow illuminated his surroundings, he realized that Constantine had similarly been outlined by a slight red earlier. She must have been like this from the start of their conversation.

Jon hesitated at the sight and his wide eyes, if only like that for a second, made her angrier. She drew her fist back and slammed it into the wall, punching through the metal structure without a second thought, solely focused on the Kryptonian. " **What?"**

Jon recovered and slowly hovered over. He watched cautiously for any change in her snarling face, and continued more surely as he saw it soften slightly at his approach.

"Let's go see your sister and get you to bed," Jon reasoned softly.

She only growled in response and ripped her fist from the metal effortlessly, as though all of the stumbling she had been doing was an act.

Jon took her shoulder and looked to Constantine with an expression that said he would handle it. He knew he had to stay calm. For her sake. He looked down at her to better grasp her mood now that he was beside her, only to stifle a gasp and stare.

The arm that she had been struggling to regenerate was growing at an alarming rate, to the point that he could watch it's progress even as she shifted her arms. In the time he had lead her to the room where Willow was asleep he noted that it had grown at least half an inch.

Sesha poked her head into the room. It was such a docile action that it made Jon wonder if Sesha was aware of her own volatile, unstable demeanor. Jon looked past the walls himself to see that Desiree was still in the room with her twin. They both somehow slept through Sesha's outburst. Seemingly satisfied, she retracted her head and closed the door, before stopping to sway unsteadily in her place, putting a hand to her head in both fatigue and confusion, all of her previous unexpected strength seeming to have deserted her just as abruptly.

"Let's get you to bed," Jon assuaged and put his hands on her shoulders, noting the slight tremors that ran through her body.

"Are you okay, Sesha?" He asked.

For a few moments Sesha remained silent, and merely continued to shake.

"Sesha?"

" **I'm still angry,"** she finally answered, the dark undertoned growl still present in her voice.

Jon, not knowing much else to say in the situation, gave an intelligent, "What?"

" **I'm still,"** she said with a ragged and labored breath, as though it was a struggle to keep her voice level, " **angry."**

Jon looked to Constantine, who had silently moved closer to the pair along the wall. He made it look like he had casually leaned on the wall, but Jon noticed quickly that he moved there for the purpose of putting himself in a advantageous position in case what they were beginning to fear was happening happened.

" **Why am I angry?"** the young woman continued, a note of desperation leaking into her tone. " **I don't want to be angry anymore. I thought seeing Willow would calm me down and would make it go away, but it won't stop."**

She paused briefly, before devolving into rapid and long-winded rambling that Jon couldn't understand.

" **Sitaki kuwa hasira. Nimechoka kuwa hasira. Mama, nisaidie,"** she mumbled.

"Swahili," he realized.

The Kryptonian was versed in a number of the same languages that she knew, such as Spanish and German, but Swahili was one that the Logans knew and had a familial fondness for, which he had chosen not to learn so as not to encroach on the bond they seemed to share with it.

"Jon," Constantine spoke up firmly. He looked to the older man only when Sesha didn't react to his voice. When he made eye contact with the sorcerer over Sesha's hunched form Constantine raised a hand in the universal symbol of "call me". Jon merely looked at him cluelessly and Constantine rolled his eyes. He hooked his thumbs together and flapped his hands like wings.

"Ro-," Jon started, only to stop in surprise as Constantine brought a frantic finger to his lips to shush him.

Understanding finally dawning, Jon took out his communicator. Beside him Sesha continued her mumblings, her voice descending into an even more guttural rasp as it carried on. She even appeared to be growing taller, an effect that Jon hoped was just a trick of his eyes. As he made the call he looked down at her right arm and was stunned to see that it was almost fully regrown. Only the fingers were left to be reformed.

" **Kukimbia,"** Sesha said, the final word followed by a short but deafening silence.

Just as Damian's voice answered with a quip about not liking interruptions, Sesha's voice roared out once again, this time a loud howl in the form of a single, short word.

" **Run!"**

* * *

Raven woke with a start to the chirp of her communicator. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and sat up in the chair she had fallen asleep in. She quickly looked to the side at her husband, sighing in relief that he hadn't drooled onto any of the books that she was helping her look through.

"Are you going to answer that?" Dr Fate asked as he floated in front of one of his many bookcases.

Too tired to give a witty retort she simply nodded and picked up the device.

When she put the communicator earpiece in her ear and answered, four words were all it took for her to bolt up awake and shake Garfield awake.

The changeling hadn't even wiped the drool off his chill before Raven was urging him with an air of overwhelming fear, "We need to get to the Tower. _Now!"_

* * *

Desiree hung up after hearing her mother's distressed shout, knowing she was on her way, before continuing to flee down the hall right behind Jon and Constantine. The older man held her twin as they ran, having scooped her up faster than anyone could protest while running from her sister.

Just as the thought crossed, her mind, a deafening roar echoed off the walls from behind her as if to remind them of their pursuer, and Desiree redoubled her speed to make up the distance she lost to make the call.

She finally gave up on using her legs to run and started flying. Somehow she had been able to keep up even with just her legs. Though that was probably more to do with the fact that Sesha was currently too tall to properly run down the corridor.

For a moment Desiree flew facing backwards just to make sure that what was happening was real, and sure enough just a few turns back, Sesha was barreling down the hall in a rage after them.

Only it was barely even her sister anymore. Her form reminded Desiree of both of their parents. The demon she saw from her mother and the beast from her father in one visage. The most immediate feature was that she was a good three feet taller. On her face she had the features of a scaly lioness with four sunken, crazed eyes with vertical black slits where pupils would be on the glowing red sclera. Her lips were pulled back to show jagged and protruding teeth and a lolling forked tongue that lapped forward between the shards of ivory. She had a broad hairy torso that was shaped like a cheetah but thick enough carry the larger head of the more powerful feline. She raised her muscular arms with razor sharp claws to scrap the hallway to give herself a menacing presence. It was an effective scare tactic and made Desiree's instincts scream to flee from her own sister. Behind her a long spined tail served as a counterbalance to her haunched upper half.

The most distressing thing was that Constantine was the slowest of the three, not for lack of ability but that he could hardly keep up with a meta and a Kryptonian, yet Sesha merely stayed on his heel with a brisk jog. Only Jon's interventions kept him from getting harmed by her sharp teeth and claws and with every failed attempt to swipe and nip made her let loose a bellowing roar.

And every time she roared Desiree felt a wave of lethargy wash over her. She knew that Jon and Constantine could feel it too, if their faltering steps were anything to judge by.

Out from around the corner they were about to turn came two bewildered young women, who both stopped to stare at the fleeing quartet.

"What's going on?!" Mar'i shouted.

"What's that!?" Cassie shouted with a finger pointed at their pursuer

Suddenly Jon wasn't next to her and Desiree dared to look back again.

Only to see him catch Sesha's upper jaw and clawing arm with his hands to stall her mid-leap. She only grabbed him with her other now fully regenerated arm in retaliation to his interference.

"Go!" He shouted over his shoulder.

Desiree was about to protest leaving him to fight his rampaging sister when Constantine nudged her shoulder. When she looked at him he jerked his head in the direction they had been running and said, "Come on. I gotta plan."

They dashed past the bewildered pair of females, who joined them in their sprint.

"What the hell is going on?!" Damian shouted when they got to the common room.

An assortment of wide eyed Titans were there waiting. Many were already in costume and looked ready for a fight, tired as they might be. Of them Ulrich jumped forward and took Willow from Constantine's arms.

"Sh-she was- she was-!" Willow rambled into Ulrich's shoulder, unable to put what had just happened into words.

"Lock it down! We can't risk her getting out!" Constantine ordered when he finally caught his breath.

"What?! Why?!" Damian shot back, perturbed that he was being given orders.

From the group of gathered teens Divine spoke up. "Why is Sesha so angry?"

Constantine looked at the new girl with a quick curious look and cataloged her ability to know the rampaging Logan's demeanor through the wards.

Just before another roar ripped through the Tower.

The sorcerer took a breath. "Sesha has gone critical." He informed them bluntly.

"That was Sesha?" Cassie asked, as beside her Mar'i put a hand to her mouth in shock.

Another roar, much louder this time, brought everyone's attention to the door.

Damian pressed a few buttons on his gauntlet and an alarm sounded. In a cacophony of metal sound the windows were covered in metal slats, as well as a series of mechanical clicks from the door as it locked itself down. Afterwards a hum pervaded the room and a purple glow accompanied it, casting an unsettling atmosphere over the occupants of the room.

"Who isn't here?" Damian said, looking from one face to the next of the gathered Titans.

* * *

When Jon heard the alarm sound for the Tower lock-down, he was a bit thankful. Up until a few seconds ago he was in quite the situation. Sesha had had him pinned against the wall. Not with her strength, few people on the planet could do that, but with her presence. All she had been doing was gently sniffing him and, if not for her spines, he got the feeling she would have

been rubbing her head against the top of his.

She was also purring.

It was very concerning when he started to feel a haze overtake him when he heard it. He was able to block most of the effects thanks to his various trainings he got from people like J'onn and even the mother of the girl pressing her mind into his. Yet he still couldn't risk allocating concentration to even move lest he let her in.

That's when the alarm went off and snapped him out of it. Or at least distracted Sesha from him enough to allow him a reprieve and get his bearings.

He slipped away and floated down the hallway. He wasn't sure exactly where to go as long as he distracted her until some plan to return her to normal was made. Though she didn't seem aggressive at the moment. He had to assume it was due to her anger at Constantine and her affection for him that made the wide difference in reactions.

When Sesha turned her scaly feline-esk head to look at him she seemed to scowl at his retreat, but merely gave an annoyed growl, before following at an even pace.

"Okay. So you won't hurt me. Even when you're this far in a, uh," Jon paused to find a good word.

"State?" he tried.

Sesha didn't answer. She only closed the distance and started purring again, lowering her head to gently nuzzle Jon's cheek.

"Come on, Sesha," Jon coaxed. "Work with me here. Let's get you back to normal."

Her demeanor didn't change but she seemed to be more on edge now with the lock-down active, keeping her eyes on him but they also darted around for any potential aggressors. Jon knew that there was magic and various meta suppressing countermeasures active when it was on. He felt it himself with the latent kryptonite radiation.

Jon's ear strained as he heard footsteps approaching. As much as he tried to lead Sesha away from the common room the alarm deactivated the elevator and other nonessential functions. That meant that their current position in the window hall of the Tower's floor was out of the evacuation route had the elevators operational. But with them nonfunctional that had the stairway Jon was trying to lead her to safely the only route to the common room.

Sesha's ear swiveled and her purr turned back into a growl.

"Sesha," Jon tried to get her attention with a calming, even voice. "Hey look at me, Sesh."

"Jon!"

He flinched at his name and looked to see Connor and Virgil at the doorway to the stairwell. Costumed and ready they moved to defend their fellow Titan.

"No!" Jon tried to stop them.

Too late, Connor let loose an arrow only for Jon to catch it in midair inches from striking Sesha.

It wasn't enough.

Sesha roared and put Jon behind her as she faced her new foes. Her four eyes were relit with determination and fury as she charged at the pair. Jon made a grab for her tail but the suppressing countermeasures of the lock-down hampered him and he was dragged along for the chase instead of deterring her attack.

"Sesha! Stop!" Jon yelled, digging his heels into the floor in an attempt to stop her.

Connor was thankfully able to put two and two together before firing a second arrow, merely breathing a simple and breathless, "Oh no."

Jon finally caught purchase and started to slow Sesha's advance as she barreled towards the duo. Virgil and Connor backed away as she approached but made no move other than to dodge as she swiped and snapped at them.

"What do we do with this?" Virgil asked without looking at his gaming partner, as they had been just playing Bloodborne together up until the lock-down cut the power to their gaming systems a few moments ago.

"Just run!" Jon managed to yell to them over Sesha's roaring.

The pair broke their eye contact with the rabid female to spare each other a quick glance before turning back to the stairwell and bolting up the stairs. Sesha tried to break for them but was prevented by Jon's grasp. She turned to look at him with a look mixed with anger and confusion that begged for him to let go.

When he didn't she did something unexpected, lifting a leg and swiftly bucking him in the face without warning.

He took the brunt of the strike to the same cheek that she had been nuzzling earlier and was sent sprawling to the floor, stunned due to his somewhat weakened state. When freed Sesha instantly bolted for the stairwell, her form beginning to shimmer and fade like mist as she did.

In her haste she should have clipped the door frame with her shoulder or tail, but instead she merely passed right through it and continued unabated up the stairs.

Jon recovered after a few moments, but a few moments was all Sesha needed to close the distance towards Virgil and Connor, who shouted and stumbled back further as she did. Jon felt adrenaline pump through him at the sound and he finally felt more unchained than he did when Sesha had first tried to dull his mind. He flew to his feet and up the few flights Sesha had on him to see her clashing with Virgil's electrified disk he was using to shield himself and Connor, the other boy looking conflicted about whether or not to shoot her in self defense. Just before he made a decision Jon was in front of her and she flinched backwards.

The same confused and angry look past over her again before Jon turned to grab the pair and fly up and away. For a few flights of stairs there was no response to his retreat until they reached the common room floor and a roar much louder than any other before it shook the tower.

Jon had to drop the pair at the shear intensity, before faltering as the bellow affected him mentally.

"Was she ever able to affect others by just roaring?" Virgil asked as he pushed himself up to all fours.

"I don't know but we need to get to the common room," Jon asserted as he pulled his companions to their feet.

As he said this the sounds of twisting and ripping metal got louder and louder until Sesha burst through the stairway doors, now even taller and covered in more, even deadlier, spines. Her eyes radiated rage, and were fixed on the trio.

"She's mad," Virgil observed.

"Ya think?!" Connor shot back as he scrambled to his feet.

The two humans fled but Jon turned to face Sesha yet again. The demon beast snarled at him, her patience obviously run dry.

This time, both charged and locked hands in a wager of strength. Unfortunately for the Kryptonian, whatever countermeasures the Tower was under didn't affect Sesha as much as him, as they were now equal in might.

As he strained against her locked claws Damian's voice sounded in his earpiece. "Jon? Do you copy?"

"What?" He grunted in reply.

"Virgil and Connor just came into the common room. They said you were fleeing Sesha with them. Are you fighting her now?"

As if to answer the question Sesha roared and Jon's knee almost buckled.

"Yep," Jon managed to get out amidst the struggle.

"Disengage and bring her to the common room. Get in before her and I'll reseal the door," Damian said.

Before he could respond, Sesha finally won the struggle and swung her claws at Jon, forcing him to back step and dodge.

"What?!" Jon shouted as he dodged more swipes of the deadly ivory talons.

"We have a plan. Do it," Robin ordered, before Jon heard the quiet hum that signified the line being cut out.

Not seeing an alternative, Jon dodged the last swipe and flew back and towards the common room. Sesha faltered at his unexpected retreat but was after him shortly after. In a few moments he was through the door and he surveyed the room as quickly as he could. He saw that his fellow Titans had cleared most of the floor of furniture for Constantine and Conrad to draw circles in the floor with a bag of salt they seem to have retrieved from the kitchen, the purpose of which Jon had seen enough cheesy horror movies to guess at.

A loud bang coming from the other side of the door he had just shut shook him from his thoughts.

"That won't hold her long," Jon warned as he backed away.

"Then weld it with your heat vision!" Iris begged, pointing at the door frantically.

Jon answered the speedstress with a shake of his head. "Without shielding gas or filler metal I'll actually just make the metal weaker if I fuse it with only heat."

Iris looked at him, expression a mixture of confusion and fear as another slam reverberated through the door.

Jon shrugged and answered her silent question, "I learned the basics of welding so I knew what I was doing with my heat vision."

Another slam caused the door to cave slightly and Jon instantly put himself between it and Iris.

"Come on. She won't hurt you while I'm here," Jon said, although he wasn't sure if he meant that his presence alone would placate the beast, or if he would have to physically stop her. He took her by the shoulder gently and lead her to the other side of the room where those not helping Constantine were gathered, behind several overturned couches-turned-barricades opposite to the doors that Sesha was banging on.

"It's done," Constantine said briskly as he walked over to them. "Desiree, Conrad. When she comes in you're going to have to shield the salt lines so that she doesn't erase them."

The pair nodded and readied themselves, staring down the door that their sister was bound to break down any second. At that point the banging sounds paused and a mix of snarls and roars came from the other side of the door. A dark blotch formed on the door and an obsidian-black rod started to poke through.

"Not now," Willow cried out.

The scythe wiggled its way out of its self made portal and spun erratically as it sailed right at Willow. She twisted out of Ulrich's arms as it neared with a whimper, arms out to shield herself and head turned away, eyes squeezed shut. The scythe stopped spinning and flew handle first into Willow's waiting hands, it's momentum snapping her arms up to raise it over her head.

A short silence followed. "You caught it?" Desiree finally asked in disbelief, not quite understanding her twin's action.

"It felt right," Willow said as she opened her eyes, before glancing down at the weapon in her grasp. "I hate that it felt right."

Without warning, the banging continued once again, though it sounded different than before. Whereas it had been dull thumps, likely her fists slamming it, now it was sharp clangs, almost like metal against metal.

With one last thunderous roar a breach in the door ripped open, and the edge of some sort of curved blade poked through.

"Oh, Azar, no," Willow mumbled as she briefly looked at, she loathed to admit, her scythe.

After a few more swings of whatever weapon she had Sesha had made a sizable hole for herself to peak through. Two red glowing right eyes glared at them and it made Ulrich's and Conrad's breath hitch.

The eyes moved and the doors were blasted forward and into the room. Desiree and Conrad reacted quickly and batted them aside with magic shields to let them crack against the windows behind them that overlooked the Jump City Bay. The tempered material shattered but retained its shape and the crumpled remains of the doors stopped embedded partially in the panes, remaining there.

Sesha stood in front of them and showed, to those that had seen her previously, additions to her form. On the end of her tail was a snake head which curled about to observe the gathered heroes with its own set of four eyes as well as a goat head coming from her left shoulder, that surveyed the room slowly, as the original lioness head looked at a weapon none had seen before in her hand.

"What the hell," Ulrich cursed. He, and everyone else, wasn't sure what to be more appalled by. Her appearance or the ax.

Those that dared to look away from one of Sesha's heads saw that the ax was of similar make to the scythe her sister was holding. The handle was a garish spine made of metal with what looked to be feathers hanging from the pommel. The same bloody and sinew-covered look the scythe had held true as metal tendons covered the area where Sesha gripped the spine-like handle to make a somewhat smooth surface and attached to the head of the ax to create a curved outline from the handle to the ax blade. Poking from the tendon like wires were teeth that made the ax head look like a bear skull with a blade protruding from its nose to make the ax head. It was easily half as tall as her even with her current ten foot stature, and the ax head as big as one of her own.

"Are any more of you gonna get Bloodborne weapons?" Virgil asked Ulrich, whose only response was a glare that clearly said 'shut up'.

Sesha stepped forward while reading her ax by swinging it to her other side and into her left hand. Just as her muscles tightened to spring forward and those before her tensed, the snake head on the end of her tail hissed at the salt lines. The goat head looked down before uttering a sound that reminded them of that which would be expected from a goat, and derisive, insulting laughter while the lion head fixed her glare on Constantine.

"Don't think she likes me much," the sorcerer quipped with a step back.

Sesha kept her lion head glaring at Constantine while the snake head watched the salt lines and started to walk around the circles. All the while the goat head continued its laughing.

"No. No no no no," Desiree said as her sister stepped around their only plan.

Jon grit his teeth as he watched the Titans around him grow more and more restless with every step Sesha made. Finally he sighed and stepped forward, with a hand on both Willow and Desiree's shoulders as he past them.

"I don't mean any of this," Jon said to them in a whisper before flying into the center of the salt circles. Robin tried to stop him but to stop a Kryptonian was a fool's errand as he effortlessly shook the Boy Wonder off and continued forwards.

Sesha paused in her advance to watch him with her snake head. When he stopped in the center of the salt lines he turned to her with a look of anger to match her own, so intense that it even brought the great beast pause, if only for a second.

"Come on," Jon began as he waved his hands at himself. "You want me don't you? I know what you were doing back in the hallway. Trying to seduce me. As if I would want _you_ with what you are!"

The goat head's laughter came to an abrupt halt, and all three heads fixed a renewed look of fury on him.

"So you're a chimera now, huh?" Jon continued, "Living up to your moniker. But maybe we should call you 'Monster' now."

Sesha growled from her lion head as her snake head hissed.

"Or maybe we should reserve 'Monster' for Willow. Eating meat? Now that we know what she really is."

Instantly, all three of Sesha's heads roared and hissed as she charged at him in a dead sprint. Desiree and Conrad lifted the shield over the salt lines and Sesha stepped over it, her only goal being to reach Jon. She lifted the ax over her head in preparation to deliver a blow that not even the Kryptonian could only hope to survive

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he cocked a fist back.

Sesha swung down in blind fury but Jon's strike was already buried in her gut. She caved over it and her tail came forward to try a strike of her own. Jon backhanded it and kicked one of her legs out from under her, dropping her to one knee.

Unfortunately, that brought her other two heads within range, and the lion head bit his left shoulder while the goat head bit his right. Jon cried out and tried to grab both of the heads with his arms but only started to struggle against them and the leverage he had with her height over him.

"Do it," Constantine said as he looked to Conrad.

Said Logan snapped out of his awe at the fight before him and looked at him aghast. "With Jon still in there?"

"Do it!" Constantine repeated, more urgently this time, but Willow had already stepped forward. She cut her palm on her scythe and flung her hand forward to throw her blood over the salt lines. The moment the droplets came into contact they began to glow, and red iridescent domes materialized from them and closed around the dueling pair.

Noticing this, Sesha roared again, dropping Jon and leaped forward to swing her ax at the dome, only to have it glance off with no effect.

Once they all came up the innermost ring began to crackle with red energy, before rapidly shooting to clasp around Sesha like a long stretch of chain. They started to glow much brighter than the domes and she let loose a loud roar of pain. The next circle glowed and four more ropes of energy sprung from it and forced Sesha to her knees. All the while she continued to roar, each more agonized than the last, and after a few more moments they turned to screams. The animalistic heads where gone and the Sesha everyone knew was there once again, clad in shredded clothes and convulsing about on the ground in the middle of the circle. Jon remained beside her as well, shoulders bloody.

After the longest thirty seconds of their lives, Sesha stopped thrashing, and the screaming came to a merciful end as she collapsed.

* * *

AN: I hope that my long chapter intervals was worth this much bigger than normal update. This one just came to me because all of my plans are coming to fruition! Mwahaha!

Special thanks to Eldritch Sardine for the fabulous Beta! Another thanks to Slowlydead17 and destroyer63 for the follow/favorites!

Anyway love it? Hate it? Tell me in the comments! I'd love to hear it!


	18. Eye of the Storm

The first thing she heard was crying.

She wasn't sure whose. It did sound familiar, though. One of her sisters, maybe? Which one though? Only when she finally became more lucid she did realize that the broken sobs were coming from her own mouth.

Sesha gasped silently and tried to sit up. Everything was sore and she realized with a start that she was restrained. She tried to sit up to no effect and brushing against her restraints gave her a shock similar to what she felt from Adonis' armor.

She hissed in pain and went limp into the ropes holding her. Or were they chains?

Everything hurt too much to tell.

"Sesha?"

She heard it, but hadn't the strength to acknowledge it at all.

A figure walked into her view and knelt down, the glare from a light above obscuring their features.

"Sesha, are you okay?" Jon.

Her eyes widened when she took in his appearance. An ugly bruise occupied his left cheek and his shoulders bore a pattern of puncture wounds in a 'U' shape, indicative of bite wounds on each shoulder.

It was then that she finally focused on her own situation.

A red dome hung over head and layers of others laid behind it. At the base of each of the circles was writing that, even at her extreme low angle she recognized as Conrad's sealing circles mixed with a handwriting she didn't recognize. Constantine's, she guessed. It was from one of these circles which her restraints sprung from.

Finally she found her voice.

"You're the last person who should be asking me that," she said in a breathless tone.

Jon brushed a hand over the marks on his shoulders and shrugged with a wry smile, "I've taken worse from Damian."

Sesha tried to put the facts together. Her bindings, her surroundings, the state of the room around her, the ax lying next to her, the faint taste of blood in her mouth, and the distinct injuries Jon bore.

It clicked.

"No," Sesha began desperately, choking out the word in a rising panic. "No, Azar. Please, no."

Jon caught on quickly and put a steadying hand on her cheek. "Sesha. it's okay. I'm fine."

"Don't touch me!" Sesha screamed as she tried to wrench herself out of his reach, the effort futile due to her bonds.

She even willed herself to shift in an attempt to escape, but nothing happened and she could only imitate the snake she had wanted to become.

"Sesha! Let me explain!" Jon tried as he easily kept up with her, bringing his second hand to stroke her hair in an attempt to comfort her.

"No! I'm the one that did that to you! I'm a monster!" Sesha cried.

Jon flinched at the same words he had heard from her sister just earlier in the night. Looking around, he noticed that the few Titans that remained around the dome were looking on, mostly composed of members of the Logans. It was a long night and few had chosen to stay up through the morning hours to watch the broken scene.

Thankfully the lockdown was lifted and kryptonite effects were gone, but he was still weak from them and there would be no sun to recharge him for another hour or so.

The domes above muted the sounds from outside, so all his ears could pick up at the moment was his and Sesha's breathing, though that was probably also due to how erratic the latter's was. A glance away from the girl showed that the Logans seemed to be bickering at Constantine about something. He wasn't versed enough in reading lips to know what they were saying but it was easy to know the subject of their conversation.

Turning back to Sesha, Jon again tried to comfort her.

"It's okay. Whatever made you do that, we'll figure it out and stop it from happening again," Jon soothed in a soft tone. "You didn't hurt me."

Sesha stared back at him with wide, disbelieving eyes that focused in on his wounds. "Are you insane? I did. I did hurt you!"

"No. You didn't. Whatever turned you into that thing that bit me," he said with a gesture to his shoulders, which Sesha flinched at, "is what hurt me. You didn't. You actually kept trying to get me to pet you, purring and nuzzling me the whole time. Even protected me from Virgil and Connor."

Sesha looked at him and stared for a good minute, a blush slowly working up her dark minty face.

"Then show me."

"Huh?" Jon said with a blink, his face quickly reflecting the darker hue of her own.

"Show me the footage of what I did," Sesha elaborated quickly. "Maybe I'll believe you."

Jon nodded his head, hoping silently that his words were enough. From the corner of his eye he saw Constantine cave to whatever demands Raven had given, before waving his hands and the enchantments binding Sesha started to fade.

However, even when free she stayed on the ground on her side. Jon worriedly knelt down to see if she was unable to stand but he found her looking at her hand. Surprised to find it back and staring as though unsure if it was even still her own.

Knowing she wouldn't want others to see her wallow, he put her hand out in an attempt to get her to her feet. She ignored the offer and rolled over onto her back to look at the ax lying at her other side.

Unfortunately, the move also caused her to notice her newly-shredded clothes. Realizing this, Jon quickly looked away and undid his cape.

"Oh," was her only plain response to her lack of decency. Jon threw her cape over her head as he walked around behind her, effectively using hes cape as a blanket.

Sesha hummed tonelessly in acknowledgement and used her left arm to clutch it against herself. At that time Jon saw both Raven and Garfield as well now, berating Constantine even further. To lower the domes he suspected.

His suspicions were right as the domes finally faded and sounds of the surrounding room finally met his ears again.

There were only murmurs and rapid footfalls. In the span of a few seconds after the shield was down Raven had picked up her eldest daughter into an embrace, caressing her like she was a child again.

"My babies," Jon heard Raven mumble into Sesha's hair, though he quickly averted his eyes in an attempt to give them some semblance of privacy, not acknowledging the tears which were wetting Sesha's hair.

The next moment Garfield had his arms around the pair, shoulders tense with a clear sense of protection. The first to walk up besides them was Willow, who remained despondent as she stood next to them, the scythe still in her hands.

Jon felt wary at how natural the weapon looked in her grasp. Not aesthetically, it looked repugnant at best, but the way she held it. Effortlessly with only one hand directly around the center of weight near the head of the blade.

She used the long handle to prod the ax still on the ground.

"Guess we match now," Willow said with deadpan. "Yay."

Desiree stood within arms reach of her twin, unsure of how to deal with her uncharacteristic disposition.

On Willow's other side, Ulrich eyed the weapon on the floor. His gaze swapped between it and its sister in Willows hand with a strange look on his face.

Conrad hadn't moved from his spot sitting in one of the few chairs that remained upright.

"Show me the footage," Sesha repeated.

"What?" Raven asked through her tears. She barely made to compose herself like she managed with Willow's outburst. Whether this was due to the additive stress, or merely the severity of the latest one, Jon didn't know. Both was a good guess.

"She wants to see surveillance footage of what happened," Jon elaborated.

Garfield looked confused and furrowed his brow in protective anger. "You just got out of this mess. You need to rest first."

"I'm tired of resting. My arm is back anyways," Sesha argued.

"That's not the problem," Garfield said.

Sesha sat up out of her mother's arms slowly and stood, her mother using her own cloak to cover her back as she did so. Jon's own red capewas now obsolete with her mother's cloak clasped and fully covering her body, Sesha hand it back wordlessly.

"I'm going to go change. I want to see the footage when come back," Sesha insisted.

"Someone needs to be with you," Constantine called out from his spot on leaning against a wall.

Raven shot him a glare for so easily giving off the implication that she wasn't trusted on her own.

"To watch the monster," Sesha agreed emotionlessly. "Sure."

"Guess I'm not up to it then," Willow sighed. "Monster watching a monster is a little redundant."

"Enough!" Raven shouted.

The two girls didn't flinch at the uncharacteristic outburst, nor did they even move to look at her, both choosing instead to focus on the wretched blades each possessed.

"Look at me," Raven ordered.

When the pair remained unresponsive, she took a breath. "Please,' she amended more calmly.

Finally the two girls lifted their heads away from the weapons that haunted them and to their mother.

"Neither of you are monsters," she said. "I can't believe that I have to explain that. I can't even bear it."

Sesha snorted at the last sentence and bent down to pick up the ax. When she looked back at her mother to see her giving her a chastising look Sesha only shrugged with a wry smile and pointed at the ax head.

"It's a bear skull. I thought it was funny," Sesha explained. "I might hate myself right now but I still laugh."

Raven sighed. "I'll try to take that as a good sign. Go get changed."

"Okay, she can go on her own," Constantine said as he walked towards them. "But not with that."

He finished by jabbing a finger at the ax in Sesha's hand. She looked down at it and shrugged before continuing on her way, only stopping to shove it into his chest as she passed.

As she walked to the doors that were still ripped open the ax almost jumped out of his hands as some unseen force yanked it forwards to follow her, but he kept a grip on it.

"You're not getting away that easily," he grumbled.

Just before she got to the door Divine walked in front of her. She had a innocent and curious look on her face as Sesha stopped in front of her.

"What?" Sesha asked dejectedly.

"Good to have you back," Divine said with a smile.

"Back?" Sesha said. "What are you talking about?"

Divine looked at her like she spoke a different language.

"That creature. It wasn't you." Divine explained as though it was common knowledge.

Sesha looked hopeful for a moment but then only sorrow masked her face.

"I wish I could believe you," Sesha said before swiftly walking out of the cavernous hole she left.

* * *

Once Sesha had finished watching the footage she hung her head. She didn't speak or even move throughout the showing, and remained motionless afterwards as well.

She did give a humorless laugh when her recording burst through the common room doors as her namesake. Only when it was over did she look away.

The others in the room let their gazes fall on her. The only people present were her parents, Jon, and Damian, all crammed into the Boy Wonder's office to watch it.

"Welp," she sighed as she made a show of stretching her arms over her head. "Guess I'll get my resignation in order."

"No," Robin immediately cut her off.

"Excuse me?" Sesha said with a raised brow.

"You are acting on emotion. I won't let you do something so drastic," Robin reasoned. "Not even twenty four hours ago were you talking my ear off about taking you off duty for your arm."

"That was before I realized the danger I posed," Sesha muttered dejectedly.

"You think I didn't know the danger already?" Robin countered, "I account for any threat which you pose, accounting for issues that may come up from either one of your parents. And there are six of you."

"You're shit at pep talks," Sesha grumbled.

"What he means to say is," Jon interjected, "nothing that happened was unaccounted for. That's why no one got hurt badly, or permanently"

Sehsa gave him a scathing look that made him lean back a bit. It immediately softened at his reaction and turned into something similar to regret before lowering to his shoulders, and the bandages she knew were wrapped about them under his jacket.

"And if I just leave?" Sesha growled.

"Then you will remain a Titan and you will be given leave until we find you a solution to your situation," Robin continued.

Sesha opened her mouth again but nothing came out this time. She closed it reluctantly after a few awkward moments of just letting it hang open.

After they were sure she was not going to talk, her parents walked over.

"You aren't alone in this, Sesha," Garfield said.

"You know how much your father and I struggled at your age, so you know that we'll help in any way we can," Raven consoled.

Sesha looked at both of them slowly before allowing them a halfhearted hug. Her parents returned it wholeheartedly but Sesha almost looked limp in their enthusiastic and loving embrace.

When they let go she walked to the door with a simple, "I need some air."

* * *

Willow tossed the scythe from hand to hand, testing the weight. It felt as light as a feather but if the cleaved training bots at her feet had anything to say about it, the thing was sharper than most swords. She knew it shouldn't feel so perfect as a weapon considering that the common scythe was made to cut down crops and was only ever used for combat by those without real arms and in horror stories.

Yet she wielded it like it was made to cut down armies.

After a final twirl it vanished and her stomach growled noisily.

"Hungry?" Desiree asked from the side of the training room.

Willow didn't answer, only continuing to stand in the same spot. Desiree floated over to her twin and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Let's get you something to eat," Desiree said.

"I'm not hungry," Willow mumbled.

"Come on, sis," Desiree urged. "You gotta eat. I heard your stomach."

"And I know what it wants!" Willow shouted. "It still wants meat. I want to eat vegan still but just the thought makes my stomach flop."

Desiree's eyes widened a fraction and she was thankful that Willow had averted her eyes.

"Well," Desiree started with uncertainty, "maybe you should listen to it."

Willow's gaze jumped back to her twin's, horror in her eyes and mouth gaping incredulously.

"Did you just say I should eat meat?" Willow asked in disbelief.

Desiree grimaced and broke eye contact. "I'm saying that we're animals. More than that. Omnivores. Not to mention demons. If your body wants that stuff then-"

"No!" Willow exclaimed and broke away from her. "I won't let myself be ruled by those urges and go back on my morals!"

Desiree followed her for a step and clenched her fists in frustration. "So you would rather starve?!"

"Yes!" Willow screamed.

"Is this a bad time?" Jon said.

Both turned from their spat to see the Kryptonian in the doorway. Willow quickly took the opportunity to break away from the confrontation with her twin and stalked towards the door.

"Usiende mbali! Lazima ula!" Desiree called out to her.

"Mimi si mauaji ya wanyama! Kifo ni bora kwangu!" Willow shouted over her shoulder as she brushed past Jon.

"Basi wewe ni mtoto! Wewe ni _brat!"_ Desiree shouted at her back.

"Bora kuliko mwuaji!" Willow shouted as she slammed a fist, without turning around, on the door button to close it.

"It was a bad time," Jon sighed.

Desiree groaned and pulled her hood over her face. "I shouldn't have snapped. I just want to make her feel better."

"What were you saying?" Jon asked.

"What?" She droned through her hood.

"Swahili. You weren't speaking English just then," he explained.

"Oh," Desiree deadpanned as she flipped her head back up, revealing her green skin.

"Switched to your dad's?" Jon asked rhetorically, a more comforting conversational statement than anything else.

"Turning off my empathy is handy sometimes," she mumbled, with no acknowledgement for the tear that slid down her cheek.

Jon nodded in understanding, even if he could only be sympathetic for her plight rather than empathetic.

"She's still craving meat," Desiree explained after a silent moment, "and she can't eat vegan anymore for some reason. She would rather starve than become a murderer."

Jon turned his head to look at the door Willow has disappeared into with a contemplative expression. "I have to admire how steadfast you are on your veganism."

"Should you though?" Desiree asked with more tears falling. "As much as we strive to not hurt animals is it worth starving for ones that have already met their end?"

Jon paused in thought for a moment. "That's something for Willow to answer herself. Is the act alone something she hates? Or robbing the animal of its life, regardless of the fact that they would just be eaten by someone else? And is she is really willing to literally die on that hill?"

"But we can't just let her commit suicide!" Desiree cried.

Jon nodded and put a hand on each of her shoulders. "But that doesn't make her feelings on the matter invalid. If her cravings are here to stay then it's a new harsh reality for her to accept. She probably knows that you're just trying to help but right now her rattled heart just hears that you're casually throwing aside the morals you have shared for your entire lives."

Guilt flashed across Desiree's face at the thought and she bowed her head.

Jon stepped forward and put his arms around her in a consoling embrace. A few silent sobs shook her shoulders, before she let out a deep sigh.

Without warning, she pushed herself away with a blush on her face she, stammering, "Sorry. I need to find Willow, not make Sesha jealous."

"I doubt me giving you some simple comfort would do anything," he said with a chuckle.

A questioning look crossed Desiree's face and she asked, "Why were you over here anyways?"

"I was, uh," he said while rubbing the back of his neck, "looking for Sesha actually. Still a bit tired from all that happened so I'm not fully charged and can't hear outside. She said she needed air so I thought she would be training to blow off steam."

"Considering what's been going on she probably wanted to be contrarian and actually got some air. Go check outside."

With that Desiree flew off to find her twin.

Jon looked around at the sliced up training bots and set his mouth in a grim line before going off to find Sesha.

* * *

"What the hell is going on?" Garfield growled. "Willow is suddenly using that scythe like it's an old friend and Sesha goes and not only turns into a chimera but gets an identical ax on top of that."

Raven stood at his side with her frayed nerves on full display in the fingers drumming against the desk that she stood next to rhythmically and kissing her teeth. Beside Robin's desk Constantine fiddled with a lighter as though nothing was wrong.

"Thanks for the recap," he said sarcastically.

"No," Garfield spat as he took a menacing step towards the other man and a growl from the Beast stirred in his chest. "I'm not dealing with your shit right now. Not when it's this bad."

"If it's this bad then you shouldn't be wasting time repeating what we already know," Constantine said.

Raven's nails dug lines into Robin's desk with an ear splitting screech.

"I did this to them," she whispered.

"Here we go with the repeating again," Constantine grumbled.

Garfield stalked within a few inches of Constantine's face and snarled.

Constantine was unfazed. "Now that we accept that we can more accurately pinpoint the problem instead of all this genetic mumbo jumbo."

"Mumbo jumbo?" Garfield retorted with venom. "That's my parents' life work and its helped us in predicting their jumps in power."

Constantine rolled his eyes. "Sure, but that's not the solution now is it?"

Constantine then turned his eyes to Raven. "Right, Pride?"

Raven's hand immediately tightened on the table again, cracks splintering along its surface from her grasp.

" _ **You dare!?"**_ she hissed with four burning eyes.

Constantine was still unflinching. "Throw your tantrum at me all you want but you know accepting what they are is the fastest way to help them."

The four eyes receded to two just as fast as they appeared. Beside her Garfield clenched his fists in fury.

Constantine edged away from the parents and then walked away towards the door.

"Come find me when you're ready to stop denying it."

* * *

Sesha forlornly threw another rock into the ocean waters as she sat on one of the large rocks that lined the beach. It hit the surface with a large splash thanks to the force of her throw.

She looked down at the hand that had thrown it. The hand hand that up until a few hours ago been only a stump on the end of her elbow.

She clenched it and her jaw as a snarl became more and more prevalent on her face, her hand unconsciously grabbed the rock it had been resting upon limply, cracking its surface with her claws. With a pained roar she stood and in a swift motion threw the rock as big as herself into the ocean.

A few ragged breaths later, she growled. "What do you want?"

Constantine chuckled as he took a drag from his cigarette. "I actually came out for a smoke and happened upon this dismal scene."

Shesha snarled. "What. Do you. Want?"

After a pause he answered with, "To tell you to not take my shtick."

Sesha turned to glare at him in confusion. "What?"

"The 'distance myself from help people' part. It's mine."

"Fuck you. I can do what I think is right," she spat back.

"Fine. But please try to at least be original about it."

She turned and shouted at the man, "I won't take this from you! Not when you're the asshole that leaves everyone behind because he thinks he needs to solve everything alone!"

Constantine looked up at her from over his cigarette with eyes that made her falter, doubt already growing over her words.

That gave Sesha pause and she went back to staring out at the ocean.

Constantine puffed a cloud of smoke out resolutely and sighed. Just as he took a step forward Sesha raised and jabbed a finger at him and he stopped.

"Not when you're smelling like a garbage fire."

Constantine rolled his eyes but stayed where he was.

"Your shtick, huh?" Sesha stared at him for a few moments. After taking in what he insinuated she collapsed to her knees. "Guess I panicked and went overboard on self correction."

"Aye. You have a bunch of brothers and sisters to look after. A little impossible to push them away. Not to mention all the other scraps in that tower."

Constantine then flicked his cigarette into the water, which Sesha glared at him for, finishing with, "Who knows? Maybe you'll figure this out by sticking together like your mum."

"That's awfully optimistic coming from you."

Constantine huffed like the softness he showed was a foul odor. "It's only 'cuz out of all the demons I've had the displeasure of knowing . . ."

He trailed off, and Sesha tilted her head curiously. finally, he finished with, "I hate you lot the least."

Sesha chuckled and moved her legs into a natural sitting position.

She smiled and watched the water lap at her feet for a few moments. "Thanks. Who knew I would get set straight by you of all people?"

"Save your thanks for someone that wants it."

Sesha made sure to flip him off as he walked away. After listening to his sandy footsteps fade she remained where she was, listening to the waves for a few minutes. Then she sensed another presence, though this one was far more welcome.

"That wasn't very nice," Jon said.

Sesha chuckled. "Like he even cares."

Jon smiled and sat down next to her. "You doing better?"

Sesha shrugged. "Not sure. I think I am."

"Good. I also don't think you have to worry about everyone else in the tower," Jon said.

Sesha scoffed. "How? They all saw me."

"Divine is apparently convinced of what I already knew," Jon said. "That wasn't you last night and she's going to everyone that may think otherwise."

Sesha was speechless, filled with unexpected gratitude that the girl who she had hardly bothered getting to know thus far was going out of her way to be on her side. "Guess I'll have to thank her."

Jon nodded and started to gently remove his jacket. Sesha for a moment was too entrapped by staring out at the ocean to notice. Only the bundle of fabric hitting the rocks behind them did she look over and double take at him start to take his shirt off.

"What are you doing?" She cried, unsure whether the blush or smile on her face was more apparent.

"You can't heal through fabric, right?" Jon asked as he tossed his shirt on top of his jacket, exposing his heavily bandaged chest and shoulders.

Any joy fell off of her face immediately. No jokes came to her tongue and her eyes no longer drank in Jon's chest. She only whipped her head away to hide a scowl.

"You're better off finding someone that can actually heal. I'm shit at it," she mumbled.

"I still want you to do it."

"Why? I'm the one that-"

"'Cuz you owe me for helping you," Jon interrupted.

That made Sesha turn to look at him again and say through a small huff of humorless laughter, "What?"

"I helped you with your back _and_ arm. I'm cashing that in for you to heal this." Jon gestured to his shoulders.

"Then I'll pass it on to Desire. Or Conrad. Both of them are far better than me for healing."

Jon took her hand gently, only for Sesha to flinch and pull her hand away. Jon didn't retract his hand, only leaving it extended in a wordless offer for Sesha.

Sesha's eyes darted back and forth between the Kryptonian's hand and face, while Jon returned a concerned, patient glance.

After a few moments Sesha finally put her hand back into Jon's who gently tugged it to rest in on one of his bandaged shoulders. Even through the wrappings she could feel the tears and rips in his skin and that was enough to almost make her retract her hand again.

A few moments of silence followed until Jon felt her shake through her hand.

"I'm so sorry. I attacked you. Hurt you. And-"

Jon shushed her and glided his thumb over her hand. "It's okay. I'm fine. You're going to heal me."

"I shouldn't even have to in the first place! It's my fault!"

Jon didn't speak for a few moments, then took her other hand and put both of hers over his heart.

"You feel it still beating, right?"

Sesha met his eyes, flushing at the intimate feeling of his heartbeat under her fingers. She nodded.

"Then it's okay. You can still do something about it. Right?"

She nodded again.

"Then what will you do about it?"

Pushing through the guilt she she took a calming breath, keeping her hands steady over his skin. Her face morphed into an expression of concentration, and a blue aura covered her hands. She cupped his cheek and almost immediatly the bruse on was gone. Then her hands moved to his shoulders.

"You know I was joking about the whole clothes thing. Unless a shred of them or something got _in_ the wound," she said.

Jon chuckled. "I know."

Sesha looked up for a moment to stick her tongue out at him before focusing back on her task.

She felt the pain, the pain caused by her, and focused on it. Took it in. Normally she was too impatient, too acclimated to her own pain to feel others, so it was difficult for her to heal, but it was different this time.

The fact that she blamed herself for the damage was her guess.

The whole time Jon kept his eyes on hers, while she glared at his wounds, as if to will them away merely with her anger, until eventually they did.

Jon immediately ripped the wrappings off with ease when she was done, fully exposing his now healed chest. A strange noise to escape Sesha's throat, which in turn cause Jon to look up at her through his bangs.

"Shoe is on the other foot now," he teased with a smirk.

Sesha didn't give him the satisfaction of leaving her speechless. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Thanks either way," Jon said, reaching for his shirt.

However, before he got it over his head Sesha was hugging him.

"No. Thank you," she mumbled into his shoulder.

Jon closed his own arms around her and replied softly, "Any time."

He gently pulled her away and after a moment of silent eye contact put him shirt back on. "You should go find Willow. Desiree has her hands full trying to cheer her up."

"Oh Azar, you're right," she groaned, jolting to her full stature, realizing that she had been haunched for most of their interactions.

Then she leaned forward and kissed him.

On the lips.

They both froze against each other, shocked at what had just happened. Was still happening. When she finally pulled away Jon was staring at her with wide eyes that she was sure she mirrored. Her breath was shallow as she peeled her hands away from his chest. Then she scrambled away, splashing into the surf as words fell out of her mouth in a panic.

"I'm sorry! I don't know why I did that! My brain wasn't working right!"

Her foot didn't find any purchase on one step and she slipped, falling into the waves. When she surfaced and whipped the water from her face she was met with laughter.

"Are you okay?" he asked through his mirth, extending a hand yet again to pick her up.

She took the offered hand and they walked up the shore a bit. "You're not weirded out?"

Jon cast her a confused look. "Why would I be? I know that you've been hesitant about doing that for awhile now because of our age difference. But the law only cares about . . . you know."

Sesha looked nervously at him. "Sex. Yeah. I just thought you would be more against it. Considering you never flirted back."

"Shoe and the other foot, remember?" Jon smiled an almost cocky smirk and put his jacket back on, shrugging. "You should go find your sisters. We can talk about this later."

Sesha immediately berated herself mentally for almost forgetting about her siblings, but tried her best to play it off. "If that weren't so urgent I would be annoyed at you for dodging the fact that for the first time you flirted back, but you're right. I should."

She then regained some of her usual boldness and moved forward to hug him. Again they pulled back and and shared a look as they held each other. With more certainty and bravery this time, she pulled herself up and kissed him again, short and chaste, but they took their time in parting.

"I just remembered you're still all waterlogged," Jon said, wrinkling his nose as he pushed her away.

"Nice job avoiding using 'wet'," she bantered as she slapped his arm.

"We aren't anywhere close to that," he waved her off with a chuckle before raising a few feet into the air. "I'll see you later."

"See you," she said as she waved and ran back to the tower.

No sooner had she opened the doors before she heard a boom and looked to see Jon already a speck in the sky with a vapor cone from breaking the sound barrier wreathing him.

Upon entering the Tower, the familiar hallways inside reminded her of what had happened the night before, and her joy slipped a fraction. Fatigue from the roller coaster of emotions hit her and she had to lean on the wall next to her. In front of her was the door that she had ripped through less than a day before.

Cube was standing there his a hand integrated into the wall's circuitry in order to repair it. He had already flattened out the crumpled metal and was working on fixing the door.

Normally she would banter with Cube about how he was able to do that without any tools or even motion and he would respond with a quote from one of her favorite video games.

 _"Nanomachines, son!"_

Then they would laugh at how science fiction has become non-fiction or some other asinine teenage topic.

Today she didn't have it in her and only hoped that he wouldn't acknowledge her as she walked past.

"Sesha!" he greeted so cheerfully that she was left flabbergasted.

"Girl, what have I told you about making a mess that I gotta clean up?" he said with the jovial smile he always wore when bantering with her.

"To . . . not to?" she answered lamely.

"That's right! Now why'd you have to go and make a mess?" He continued with no real bite in his words. Sesha was further confused as a check of her empathy told her he was genuine.

"I . . . What?" Sesha tried to formulate a sentence. "Did you not see me las-"

"Imma stop you right there, little lady," Cube cut in with a more serious tone. "You don't need to worry about it. Part of being on this team is helping each other and no one batted an eyelash at that virus that compromised my dad all those years ago."

Sesha's shock finally fell away to laughter. "Or my dad for doing that to him."

"See? Mind control, possession, viruses, et cetera. We won't hold it against ya. Besides, Divine was talking everyone's ears off to not to," Cube reassured with a blinding smile.

Sesha was rendered speechless again and gave him an almost tearful smile.

"Aww, come on, girl. You looked too happy just a moment ago for tears," Cube said.

"Oh, shut the fuck up!" Sesha shot back as she wiped her eyes, though it had no bite as she smiled behind her hands.

* * *

Willow's stomach nearly roared as she leaned against the fridge.

"Please, Willow. Work with me here. You gotta eat something," Desiree's voice said through the door of the fridge between them.

"I'm fine Dez. I'm just not hungry," Willow denied with a sigh.

"I'm sorry about saying you should eat meat. It was wrong to so easily give up on that, but I just don't want you to suffer over it."

From the counter Connor entered the conversation. "I can get some of the chili you ate last time. Do beans and all that make you sick?"

Willow was about to respond when she felt a wave of joy approaching them along with the padding of bare footsteps.

"You feel that Dez?" she asked as she looked at the doorway to the common room, the only entrance. Desiree stopped fiddling in the fridge to follow her line of sight.

"Whoa, Sesha. You look happy," they heard Virgil's voice say.

"Is Willow in the kitchen? I think that's where the trail is leading. These damn wards throw me off," they heard Sesha, the complaint betrayed by the amount of sheer joy in her voice, so happy that they questioned if the nightmare last night had actually happened.

Apparently she didn't wait for an answer seeing as the doors slid open and their elder sister ran into the room, making an instant beeline for Willow. No more than three seconds later was Sesha squeezing Willow and lifting her as high in the air as she could.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Sesha cried out joyfully.

"What in Azar's name are you thanking me for!?" Willow said as she struggled against her sister's grasp.

"Jon!" Sesha said as she started to shake Willow. "I finally did it! I kissed him!"

"That's my cue to leave," Connor said as he put his hands up and walked to the door.

"Con! Nor! Way! Eet!" Willow gasped out.

"Yeah?" he asked as he turned and waited with a smile at Sesha still swinging her in her embrace.

"The! Chill! Eee! I! Want! Some!" Willow ordered, each syllable escaping every time her body swung in Sesha's arms.

Desiree smiled radiantly at the request from her twin and looked at Connor with so much gratitude that he blushed. He didn't move for a few moments, looking at the scene of Sesha dancing with Willow in her arms.

Desiree snapped her fingers and when he looked at her she gave him an expectant look and he perked up out of his stupor.

"I'll get some right now," he said and started to dig in the fridge.

"Se! Sha! Put! Me! Down!" Willow pleaded, though Desiree could see a smile on her face.

Sesha complied but didn't retract her arms, continuing to shake her back and forth with her feet planted on the ground.

"Come on, Sesh, let the poor girl go." Desiree stepped forward and tried to pry her twin out of Sesha's arms. When she put a hand on Sesha's arm she subtly put her other on the back of Sesha's head.

The image of Willow crying and arguing with Desiree in the training room flooded Sesha's mind and she tensed up.

But only for a moment because she immediately turned to grab Desiree too.

"I feel on top of the world right now! I can't believe that just happened!" Sesha gushed.

Desiree was enjoying that her sisters were back to normal, at least for now, and went along with the over the top show of jubilation. Behind them Connor was putting the chili in a pot to reheat it.

The time that Connor was at the stove was taken up by Sesha recounting her experience with Willow taking it in with more tenacity she had shown all day and Desiree overjoyed with her twin's rebound of behavior.

Just as Connor put the steaming bowl in front of Willow at the table she had a smile on her face. "So that's why you were all wet."

"Yep. I was so flustered that I fell in the water," Sesha said sheepishly.

"Where was all that confidence?" Willow teased.

"That was after. Where I kissed him again."

"Whoa," Desiree breathed, impressed. "Didn't think you would get the courage before your birthday."

"I always had the courage!" Sesha snorted and then hung her head a bit. "But after last night. It was, I dunno, him being so supportive that reminded me of mom and dad."

Desiree looked at her, more teasing on the tip of her tongue but instead turned to the steaming bowl of chili and then to the girl it sat in front of.

"You don't have to look at me like that, Dez. I'll eat it."

"Of course you'll eat it," Sesha scoffed. "I heard you ate the last bowl in under a minute."

"I was ready to get a fire extinguisher after how red it made her," Connor joked.

Willow cast them a grateful look. Then she picked up her spoon and dug in, her sisters happily watching.

Just as Willow polished off the bowl the doors slid open again. The young adults turned, expecting the other Titans or at least the parents of the sisters.

They were disappointed to see Constantine standing in the doorway.

"You?" Desiree drawled. "We just got into a better mood."

"Something urgent's come up," he said briskly. "Clean your shit and follow me. 'Cept you Robin Hood."

Connor sneered at him as he picked up Willow's bowl. "I got this, Willow. Chef's duty anyways."

Without bothering to make sure that they were following, Constantine walked out of the room.

Sesha sighed. "There goes all the good will he earned from me."

"Ew," the twins said simultaneously.

* * *

You. Yeah, you reading this. Review this! I know I have a fair amount of readers now but still barely any reviews. I'm on a bit of a roll now and would love to hear what you think!

Shoutout to Eldrich Sardine as usual for beta reading!

See yall in the next one cause I plan on some good shit happening!


	19. Red and Green

Holy shit! I'm alive!? This one is unfortunately far shorter then my normal stuff but those are for reasons I won't detail so as to keep you long for this unless you want to read after. Later!

* * *

"Where are you taking us?" Sesha demanded as they left the common room.

"Shut up and just follow me, we're meeting your parents there," Constantine nearly growled.

"And we should just take your word for it?" Sesha asked and received no answer.

Willow leaned over to her twin and whispered, "Stranger danger."

The siblings laughed as Constantine lead them to a inconspicuous closet where their brothers were also waiting and opened it.

"Has he told you what we're doing?" Ulrich asked with apparent annoyance in his voice.

The twins shrugged and Sesha rolled her eyes with a scoff, "No."

Sesha looked past him and at the doorway that opened into a room that wasn't a closet, "No way. You're taking us into the House of Mystery?"

"It's the fastest way besides that ridiculous tele-tosh. I aint using that," Constantine prattled as he stepped in and held the door open for the young Logans.

Suspicions forgotten, Sesha excitedly squeezed past him with Willow directly behind her.

"Ey! Don't leave the front room! We ain't staying!" Constantine attempted to berate the pair as they passed.

Sesha and Willow stopped just past the rug in the entryway at his words, deflating. Constantine sighed in annoyance and began to close the door, only for a voice to call from outside.

"You are not leaving without me!"

Constantine closed his eyes as if fighting a headache and opened the door to address Robin as he walked up to the threshold.

"What do you want pipsqueak? We don't got all bloody day."

"Did you not hear me? I'm coming," Robin demanded.

"Then you should turn around. I don't want you to dirty my coat," Constantine responded dryly. Behind him, Sesha turned to hide a snicker.

Damian grit his teeth, "You will take me with you."

"Why?" Constantine demanded, "And it better be good or I'll just close the door."

"Because my best friend is on the scene and he hasn't reported in. I am going regardless of your say so," Robin declared, setting his jaw.

Sesha's giggles dies immediately, "What? What the hell is going on?"

Constantine sighed and pulled the door open for Robin, who briskly walked in. After he closed the door Constantine turned around to face Sesha's glare.

"What is happening?" She demanded.

"Tefé Holland," Constantine replied stiffly.

"And who is-," she started but was cut off by Constantine.

"A lass about your age. White hair. Terrifying manipulation over both the Red and Green. Your average high school student until the seal I put on her memories broke."

"Okay, whoa," Desiree raised a hand, "Slow down. Both the Red and Green? How?"

"Hold that thought," Constantine held a finger up and pulled the door open.

When it opened it didn't reveal the Tower hallway but a completely foreign corn crop.

"Whoa," Willow said.

Sesha remained unimpressed, "Who it this Tefé?"

"She is my daughter," a rasping voice spoke from an unknown direction. The Logan kids all spun around trying to find it, put off at their inability to discern its location, despite their inhuman senses.

A sound of rustling leaves and creaking wood resonated from the crop. One of the corn stalks started to bend over and grow at an unimaginable rate until the plant growth began to take the shape of a large humanoid.

"Swampy," Constantine greeted like an old drinking buddy, "Nice of you to join but shouldn't you be out trying to stop her?"

"Swamp Thing?" Desiree asked in fascination of the being in front of them.

Sesha opened her mouth curiously and mumbled under her breath, "How do you have a daughter if you don't have a-"

Desiree glared at her and made her older sister put her hands up in resignation.

"It is a valid question," Swamp Thing said, "And pertains to Tefé."

Constantine scoffed and started to walk into the crops, "I would rather not talk about that."

It was faint but the Logans could feel the what would have been a sneer on Swamp Thing's face had it not been made of vegetation.

"I should explain Tefé's condition before she surprises you," Swamp Thing continued.

"Not while I'm around!" Constantine shouted back as he disappeared into the corn.

"What crawled up his ass and died?" Sesha asked sarcastically.

"You can forgive him this one time for his trepidation," Swamp Thing said, causing the teens to look at him in shock or, in Sesha's case, horror.

"Forgive him?" Sesha asked in mock disdain.

"Never!" Willow followed up.

A sound that was close to a chuckle came from the grassy monolith.

"As much as I agree with your disdain, in this one circumstance he is not deserved of it."

"Really?" Conrad said, unconvinced, "How so?"

"Walk with me and I will tell you," Swamp Thing said and turned to follow Constantine.

When the Logans followed as well Willow lagged behind. She turned her head around looking for something and after a moment she shrugged.

"Guess Robby went off without us," she mumbled.

When she caught up to her siblings and the monolith of moss the latter was starting to explain his progeny.

"Sesha was right about me," Swamp Thing started.

The changeling bristled at him already knowing her name but didn't speak.

"I am no longer human and can not reproduce like one. So when the Parlement of the Green said I needed a successor I needed a human body to inhabit."

"Ooooh," Willow said in understanding.

"But my wife and I wanted someone who was consensual to the process," Swamp Thing said.

Conrad's eyes locked on the back of Constantine's head, "I'm starting to understand his trepidation with the subject."

"Oh Azar, he wasn't," Sesha said as she followed her brother's line of sight.

"He was," Swamp Thing droned, "And now my daughter is tainted by his blood."

"That's a bit cruel for someone that helped you," Desiree says, casting Swamp Thing a curious glance.

"But true," the green monolith explained, "He has dabbled in dark magic and is now cursed."

"Oy, shh," Constantine interrupted in a harsh whisper.

Before anyone could comment further, they noticed that they had reached the outskirts of a town and the Logans all had to stop themselves from crying out in shock.

It was entirely abandoned save for Robin who they caught up with as he has stopped to examine the strange objects littering the street. Conrad looked closer out of morbid curiosity and saw plant like features on the strange forms as well.

When he was about to iterate his findings Desiree fell to her knees and clamped a hand over mouth to stifle a scream.

"Dez?" Willow nearly cried out, putting a hand to her twin's shoulder.

"They're human," Desiree said through her fingers, "They're all in pain."

"Human?" Ulrich echoed in horrified awe, "Is this her power over the Red and Green? Did Tefé did this to them?"

"If we don't find a way to reverse this then she is as good as a murderer," Robin said with a scowl.

"I don't think you're one to talk, bat brat," Constantine grumbled.

Robin glared at him but said nothing.

"Please. Let's not waste time like this," Swamp Thing interrupted "My daughter needs to be stopped."

"So is this why we were called?" Conrad said as he slowly walks around one of the pulsing wood-like sacks, "We might be immune to this due to our connection to the Red?"

"Yes," Swamp Thing agrees, "As well as your Demonic heritage."

The Logans all bristled, Sesha and Willow looking down in shame especially.

"He doesn't mean it as an insult. That may give you an edge against her," Robin placated, "Or maybe to reason with her."

"You think this can be reasoned with?" Constantine said, pointing to one of the sacs of flesh and cellulose.

"We need to try in case she is the only one that can reverse this," Robin said.

Desiree walked up to the nearest person turned grotesque growth and tentatively reached out to it.

Suddenly a hand snapped around her wrist and stopped her. She looked to the owner to see Constantine shaking his head at her.

"I don't want to find out that it's contagious or watch you get swallowed up by these things," he said.

"I have to try and help," Desiree protested, "Maybe I can heal this."

"I admire your humanitarianism, but we should beat this at the source before trying anything else," Constantine said, glaring at the twitching flesh.

Desiree ripped her wrist away from the sorcerer and glared at him, "I don't care. I can't walk away from these suffering people. You can go on while I try to help them."

Before Constantine could retort again Robin said, "Go on. I'll stay with her. As much as I want to go along I would be a liability once Tefé decides to turn me into one of these things."

"These things are people who need our help," Willow said with finality, "I'll stay here too to help Desiree."

"We can't have all of you stay here," Constantine said impatiently.

"And we won't," Sesha replied with her hands on her hips defiantly, "If Jon was turned into one of these things then I'm going to be there to help him."

With that Sesha turned to walk down the street without waiting for anyone else.

Swamp Thing made a sound similar to a hum and walked after her. Ulrich turned to the twins and sighed.

"Just be careful," he cautioned with a meaningful look, "Call in every few minutes."

The twins nodded with Desiree already seeming to reverse some of the grotesque transformation and reforming a human hand.

* * *

So yeah if anyone has read my previous notes then you will know that I was dealing with some heavy stuff but yeah that stuff boiled over and got worse. It's slow going but I'm getting back up. This fic suffered along side me but hopefully I will get it up and running again.

I'll see you guys with the next one! Remember to review please!


	20. Known and Forgotten

Hello there. It's been a while hasn't it? I wont make an excuse this time. Ill only ask you to review what you think of this chapter cause I'm proud of it and its as long as my first few chapters.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Not a sound could be heard but the quiet scuffling of cautious footsteps as the myriad of heroes made their way through the town . Only the Logans paused at the mounds of flesh and plant, a new wave of pain felt through their empathy as they passed each one. They were so focused on it that it was a shock that their parents were waiting for them like their leader had said.

"These things are human?" Their father asked, circling one of the mutated humans.

"Yes," Swamp Thing confirmed. "Tefé's power is unprecedented if she is able to do this on such a scale, and with no training."

"Are we sure we can even face her?" Conrad asked dejectedly.

Several moments of silence passed at the prospect of being turned into one of the ghastly constructs of Red and Green themselves.

"We have to try or this town may not be the last," Raven said.

* * *

Divine walked through the halls of the tower with apprehension, knowing her 'brother' was listening to her whenever she wasn't under watch of another Titan. She had to get away from them. The negativity was more than she could deal with. Listening to them talk about Sesha and Willow was like she was back in the tube.

The setting sun reflected her descending mood. She took random turns in the hallways not really knowing where she was going, her only goal to get away from those thoughts.

Then she stopped.

She turned to a darkened hallway with a question on her tongue. It was a hallway away from the windows of the tower, casting a heavy shadow that only had a foot or so of light carving into the hallway from the ambient light from elsewhere. It was a rare sight to see any portion of the tower in such a dreary state, intentional or otherwise.

"What do you want?" A voice broke the quiet from within the shadow.

"I'm just," Divine started with an uncertainty, "walking around."

"Cool," the voice muttered dejectedly before falling silent once again.

"What are you doing here?" Divine asked stepping a foot into the shadow.

"Nothing," the voice sighed. "Seems like that's what all I'm good for."

The shadow now covering her completely, Divine tried to placate the voice. "I'm sure that's not true."

"What do you know?" it snapped. "You just came out of a tube."

There was a silence.

"Sorry," the voice sighed. "That was uncalled for. You're just concerned."

"And I want to help," Divine responded with the rustle of her sitting down.

* * *

"Is that her?" Sesha hissed to Swamp Thing.

Their group looked through a convenience store glass front, having snuck through the back to be met with an unsettling sight.

Across the street, the eerie figure of a pale skinned girl about the twins' age twirled under the blinking street light, illuminating her like a ghost in the black night. She wore a somewhat disheveled red halter dress, as if she had just attended a school dance, over her pale skin with her short bob cut of white hair swirling over her shoulders.

"It is," Swamp Thing confirmed quietly.

"What's the plan?" Ulrich said as he peeked over a magazine rack.

"Do we even know the scope of her power?" Raven asked.

"Control of the Red and Green," Constantine prattled.

"Anything _more_?" Raven said after a sidelong glare at the man. "We need more than that."

"We don't have more than that," Constantine grumbled. "She was much younger when I sealed her memories."

"Then we need to expect the worst," the Beast said, squeezing between two shelves in an asle to remain out of sight. His shoulders were squeezed up against the cereal so had it been a lighter time his children might have laughed. "So we're going to cover each other with our influence over the Red and Green. Would we even be enough?"

"We should be," Swamp Thing responded. "You and I might be occupied with keeping her at bay if she is strong enough to turn this town like this."

"Then we can beat the shit out of her?" Sesha growled.

"We're here to subdue her, not use her for catharsis," Raven said sternly. "If you can't restrain yourself you can go back and help your sisters."

Sesha's lips tightened before she sighed, "Right, sorry."

Conrad put his hand on her shoulder without a reaction from his sister. She took a couple of breaths as her mother spoke again.

"We should talk to her first," Raven said. "Try and see if there is any way to get her to reverse what she's done."

"See if I have any humanity left?"

Everyone but Swamp Thing jumped. The Beast knocked into the shelves that he was nestled between, knocking cereal boxes to the floor and Raven's hands lit up in dark magic. They all looked up to see the girl that had just been dancing in the street was leaning on the window they had been peeking through. She had her hands up on the glass and a smile on her face, as if laughing at the animals cowering in an exhibit.

No one spoke as she continued to giggle in an unnerving manner. Finally, she looked at Swamp Thing and her smile faltered. Then she turned and her eyes fell on Constantine.

Now the expression darkened fully, a scowl overtaking her features.

Before she could say anything Constantine put his hands up in placation. "Hey now, luv! Lets not do anything hasty."

For a moment Tefé only stared at him. After a few seconds a look of confusion crossed her face.

"Why aren't you at turning into one of those globs?" She finally asked with a flat tone.

"Because we aren't letting you do that," the Beast said, standing up over the shelves to his full twelve foot stature, Swamp Thing rising as well with a placating hand.

Tefé looked at the two large green figures with a bored expression. "How?"

"You have your power through the same outlets as us," Swamp Thing said. "We won't let you harm anyone else."

"Harm?" Tefé said as the chilling smile returned to her face. "I haven't harmed anyone. They don't even have a nervous system anymore."

"But they can still have emotional pain. They still have sorrow," Raven countered. "And they are still dying because their new forms are not sustainable."

Tefé shrugged. "Why is that my problem?"

For a moment the gathered heroes were thrown by the lackadaisical attitude, until the first to react was Sesha.

"How about we start with the some of the people you 'didn't harm'," she started, voice strained with thinly veiled anger. "We're here to save them."

Raven slowly put her hand around the hand of her eldest and squeezed it gently. "We want to make this right," she added. "While we don't want to fight we will if need be."

"And then what?" Tefé looked at Constantine with an unimpressed face. "You'll make me forget?"

"Oof," Constantine winced like he had stubbed a toe. "She remembers me."

For several moments her glare remained affixed to the sorcerer before Swamp Thing spoke. "Tefé, I know you probably have a lot of questions and I will answer them, but only if you reverse what you have done."

"Tefé!" the girl shouted as if she didn't she would forget it again. Then she gasped a hollow laugh, "I didn't know my own name for seven years."

"I'm sorry, Tefé," Swamp Thing said with a deep regret. "I won't make that mistake again."

Slowly Tefé looked at Swamp Thing before swiveling to level a glare at Constantine. "And why should I believe you!?" She shouted, thrusting her hands towards them before they could react.

Raven had erected a shield in front of the group before the vines that burst from the girl's arms could slam into them. The vines immediately started to wrap around the shield upon encountering the barrier and she quickly extended the shield to surround them completely. The thumps of the vines slamming into the sides were all they could hear until all light was blocked by the surrounding growths. With a few arcane words, Conrad's finger flared to light to illuminate the insides.

"That could've gone better," Constantine quipped.

Ulrich ignored the sorcerer and squinted his eyes at the vines that clutched at his mother's magic. "Is that . . . pus?" He asked in a slightly frightened tone.

Between the vines that now covered the barrier was a milky substance that trailed down the sides of the shield that was suspiciously like the pus Ulrich mentioned.

"It is more likely to be sap," Swamp Thing said, squinting at the strange liquid himself. Then his eyes widened. "Raven get everyone out of here without dropping the shield! Do not let that sap touch anyone!"

As Raven nodded Sesha asked, "What is it?"

"Sap of the manchineel tree, also known as the most toxic tree on Earth," Constantine said. "Some say death is merciful after you touch the stuff."

"And she may have made it more potent than that," Swamp Thing continued.

"Everybody get close," Raven ordered, her eyes opening with an ethereal white glow.

In a flood of dark energy everyone was back outside in the narrow ally behind the store they had just been attacked in.

"Get to the street," the Beast said. "We can't get boxed in here."

Everyone complied and ran or flew to the end of the ally and to the street. The sun was starting to disappear behind the residencial stores, the orange glow lighting up the sacs that had once been people eerily.

"Where's Swamp Thing?" Conrad asked as he looked around to see that the hulking figure wasn't among them.

"Everywhere," Swamp Thing's voice echoed from the ground. "Your mother knows not to waste energy teleporting me when I am wherever plant matter is."

Conrad looked down to see the grass beside the sidewalk spring to life and start to create a humanoid form. After a few seconds Swamp Thing was standing again. Once he mong them adid Sesha stepped away from the grass.

"What are the chances Tefé can do that?" She asked with worried eyes on Swamp Thing.

As everyone looked down at the plants about them Swamp Thing said, "Not very likely. She still has a flesh body."

Then the asphalt next to the grass cracked apart.

"He did only say unlikely," Constantine said as his hands flared with arcane fire.

Everyone jumped away as a fist burst from the now splitting asphalt. A fist broke through first and pushed on the ground to bring its shoulder above the surface. Then the stark white hair breached and Tefé's chilling smile reared.

"I thought you said you would fight," she cooed before everyone sprung into action.

The blacktop around her crumbled and a multitude of vines burst forward with large brown buds on them. Sesha grabbed a handful of spines from her thigh and threw them at the vines, shocking the few they made contact with and making them crumple. Swamp Thing combated the frenzy of vines with a slew of his own that sprouted from his arm.

Then the brothers and their mother threw shields up as the buds burst open and seeds exploded out of them with the force of canons. The sound reverberated off of the walls of the surrounding buildings like a shotgun blast.

"Tefé! Please!" Swamp Thing pleaded. "We don't want to fight!"

"Sorry," Tefé said as she raised her hands and vines roiled from the ground and serpent like jaws opened on them and hissed. "But I do."

The snake vines snapped forward. The Beast came forward and caught one in his hands and ripped it apart and Sesha did the same with her now much bulkier arms. More white liquid sloshed on to them like blood and they tried to jump back but some splashed onto them.

"Don't worry," Swamp Thing said to them as the pair tried to rub off the sticky substance that started to burn. "I negated it to a fraction of what it was."

"The shit still burns," Sesha said as she grabbed another attacking vine.

Ulrich's eyes flashed as a wave on paper thin arcs of energy flashed forward, cutting some of the vines to ribbons. His mother clutched a hand in the air and a multitude of the vines froze midstrike. Then they were ripped from the ground like weeds and tossed to the side.

"Tefé!" Swamp Thing said as he kept another swath of sap from Raven's attack from burning her. "We only fight if we must! We don't _want_ to fight!"

Tefé glared as she grabbed her right arm with her left and plucked it from her shoulder like a flower petal and threw it to the ground. The severed arm started to writhe on the ground and sprout arms and legs as well as the hand morph into a head with rows of sharp teeth.

As a new right arm already started to form she sneered, "Then you shouldn't have abandoned me in this backwater town."

The severed arm grew into a horse sized wolf in the span of her sentence and it growled.

"Sic 'em, boy," Tefé ordered, and the wolf charged with a snarl.

As it ran forward the previously destroyed vines started to grow from their severed stumps and surged forward alongside the huge wolf.

Fittingly, the Beast was the first to meet the giant wolf and they collided with the sound of snapping branches. He clutched the wolf's jaws as it tried to bite down but the Beast pushed forward, pushing it up onto its hind legs. Seeing the opportunity the changeling kicked one of its legs out from under it and, when the wolf started to stumble, reach back and punched it square in the jaw. There was a crunch and a yelp as it went sprawling to the ground.

A large number of vines collided with Raven's magic and they were shredded, hissing as they fell to the ground. No sooner had they hit the pavement than they were replaced, only to be burned by flames that erupted from Constantine's palms. Ulrich's eyes flashed again and cut through the vines before they could get close and Conrad conjured a veritable horde of giant carpenter ants that chewed any remaining vines away.

But when they thought the could catch a breath the wolf stood back up, its jaw snapping back into place and a new swarm of vines was already reaching towards them to replace the old one.

"Oy, Swampy! You gonna help us!?" Constantine shouted at the unmoving Swamp Thing.

Everyone once again readied their defences, only for three of the vine like snakes to suddenly bulge, swelling to the size of the Beast at the throat, turning towards the collection of heroes to spit out saliva covered balls of wood. Constantine threw another volley of fire, only for his spells to burst against them in a cloud of smoke, the missiles emerging moments later unschathed. When Ulrich cast his spell again the bark shells where only cut up and they continued to roll before Conrad's ants tried to intercept.

Before the insects could reach the balls they opened up, revealing what the Logans only could describe as an armadillo, if it were meshed together with a venus fly trap in a gruesome and unnatural twist of animal, plant, and teeth.

"How are we supposed to reason with that?" Sesha sighed as one of the new creatures stepped forward, thoughtlessly crushing countless of Conrad's ants causing him to flinch back.

The wolf was the first to charge, Tefé's new monstrosities quickly following. Raven put up a shield in front of everyone as they closed in. They slammed against the barrier with more force than before, as the vines joined the assault, pummeling cracks into Raven's defence.

One of the small chunks of plant matter at their feet suddenly sprung up and in an instant Tefé was standing where it was. "You're boring me," she sighed with a monotone to rival Raven's.

"Azar above!" Sesha shouted as she jumped back. Swamp Thing, however, was more composed with his reaction.

"Let me explain," he begged, finally moving to step towards the girl and reach a hand towards her desperately.

Tefé didn't answer for a moment, walking away from the outstretched hand and towards the gathered animal and plant creatures.

"Go ahead," she said with the ever present disinterest. "Bore me any more then before and I'll just finish this fight."

There was a pause as Swamp Thing seemed to choose his words. When he spoke, it was with a heavy weight to his voice.

"Do you remember your mother? Your real mother?" He asked as he took a few careful steps forward. The wolf growled at his approach but he was undeterred.

Tefé paused in her petting of the wolf. "I . . . think I do," she hesitated.

"She was a beautiful woman whose white hair you inherited," Swamp Thing recounted fondly. "As well as her temper."

Tefé turned one of the leaves that made up the scruff of the wolf and then looked Swamp Thing up and down. "And you are my father?"

"Yes," Swamp Thing nodded. "But the powers you are using like mine are in complete opposition to her."

"What do you mean?" Tefé asked as she clutched the green coat of the wolf.

"What I mean is that your mother is the Avatar of the Rot," Swamp Thing continued. "Years ago she awakened to her powers and the Parlement of Rot, the voices that governed decay and death, wanted the Avatar of life, Red and Green, to perish. They wanted your mother to kill you."

Tefé's eyes widened and she bent forward, clutching at her head abruptly. Constantine shot forward to say, "The seal broke completely. Calm down and don't let remembering everything overwhelm you."

Tefé screamed into the chunks of asphalt under her knees, "They wanted her to kill me!"

"They overwhelmed her," Constantine tsked.

"Tefé. Listen to me," Swamp Thing said gently as he knelt down to her. "That's why we sealed your memories. We wanted you to live a normal life. If we kept your powers and memories sealed then the Rot wouldn't be able to find you."

Tefé didn't respond, quietly sobbing into her arms and the wolf nudged its head under her arm in an act to try and quell her crying while the other creatures dissolved into the ground. Swamp Thing rested one of his giant green hands on her back and slowly rubbed soothing circles.

"I don't think she will want to fight anymore," Raven said as she softly came back to the ground as her husband returned to his more normal state beside her, "Her emotions show little to no anger."

"Good," Sesha sighed, "I'm not sure I wanted to deal with that."

The rest of the party came forward and settled around the still sobbing young woman. Sesha plopped down not close to but still relatively beside her and watched the pair of father and daughter intently.

Conrad turned to Constantine and his mother and asked, "Should we get on getting these people to normal?"

"Course," Constantine said disinterestedly as he started to light up a cigarette. "We don't know how long they'll last."

* * *

By the time Tefé had settled down to only sparse sniffling the group had gone a long way in reversing the damage that was done with Constantine trailing behind and putting them each under a spell that made them stand where they had been with blank faces before they could ask what had happened.

"Sesha, you don't need to help, your sisters and bros are better 'n you at this," Constantine said as he tapped another confused and scared citizen on the forehead.

"I barely got to do anything," Sesha said as she poured her connection to the Red into what supposed to be human. "I wasn't needed for my common ground with Tefé to try and talk her down."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Constantine said as Willow brought another sputtering woman in front of him to enchant.

"Yeah, but," Sesha started, biting her lip. Willow smiled at her and took over the transformation of the human.

Sesha grumbled as she walked away and Constantine followed.

"You're still shaken up about your outburst 'cause this whole thing is like it?" Constantine said in a know-it-all manner.

Sesha swiveled on her heels to glare at him. "Why in the nine Hells wouldn't I be? What if you had sealed my memory to keep that from happening in the first place?"

Constantine blinked and then said with a finger to his chin, "Well it might have been hard cause I would've had to cast a permanent illusion of normal skin that grew with you."

"Not helping," Sesha growled and turned on her heels again.

"Neither would have sealing your memories," Constantine said. "Your powers are far more than just a connection to the Red. You can feel other people's feelings, you have to meditate to make sure you don't leek demon energy or whatever."

"A gross oversimplification but whatever," Sesha growled.

"My point being that you would've had to learn to deal with your powers regardless of whatever we did," Constantine said.

Sesha stopped walking and crossed her arms. Then she smirked and slowly turned to look at Constantine.

"You're giving me a pep talk," Sesha smiled at Constantine, "'Cause you care." As she spoke she bent her head back to side eye him in a silly manner.

Constantine rolled his eyes and sneered at the accusation. "Whatever. You can deal with that yourself then."

"Whatever," Sesha mocked.

Before the sorcerer could bite back a reply, Desiree flew in and touched down next to her sister,gasping out, "Sesha! I found Jon."

Without another word Sesha lifted off from the ground, flying off in the direction Desiree had come from. Desiree hopped off after her and Willow walked over to hand over yet another terrified civilian woman to Constantine.

"Oh yeah," Constantine muttered as Willow took off after her sisters. "I can just take care of the rest! You're welcome!"

"What's going on?!" The woman screamed at him in terror, grasping the front of Constantine's coat to shake him.

"Oh, shut your yap," he spat and pressed a finger to her temple. Without another word, the woman fell silent, her jaw and arms falling slack as her eyes stared ahead blankly..

* * *

"Jon!" Sesha said as she landed and sat down next to the young man sitting on the ground. He was on the outskirts of the town on a farm. It was bigger then one that Arella had but was most if not all farmland, the farmhouse not included, with no livestock. Sitting next to him was a young woman with a open violet biker jacket over a pink and black jumpsuit. Two long blonde braided ponytails trailed down her back and into the dirt she sat on. Her tanned freckled face was turned up to look out into the night sky.

Jon looked up with with an exhausted look and gave a tired smile. "Hey Sesha."

"You okay?" Sesha asked as she sat down next to them. Jon slowly nodded his head.

"I think his Kryptonian half didn't quite agree with being turned into that blob and back," the girl said.

Sesha gave her a quick once-over and hesitated. "Are you . . . Kathy?" She asked slowly.

The girl - Kathy - smiled and nodded. "And you must be Sesha."

In the following awkward silence, Willow grabbed Desire's hand and shouted, "Well! Let's go see if we need to help any more citizens!"

Desiree nodded at the developing scene in front of them. With that the twins flew off back towards the town.

Sesha watched the pair for a moment before turning back to Jon. "So this is your old house?"

Jon nodded as he looked at the house with melancholy.

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect the town. It was so sudden," Kathy added.

"You knew who she was?" Sesha said.

"One of my tasks here was to watch her. Keep her mental health on my psionic radar," Kathy explained, tapping a finger to her forehead. "Earlier today, around the time they got out of school, something made her snap and before I could respond she was already turning people into those things."

"Do you know what happened?" Sesha asked.

Kathy shook her head. "I only felt a little bit of what she felt. Betrayal and an urge to hurt whoever was at fault."

"Sounds pretty harsh," Sesha chimed, unsure of how to speak on the subject.

Kathy picked up on her uncertainty and stayed quiet.

"You guys okay?" Jon suddenly asked.

Sesha raised an eyebrow at him and said, "Worry about yourself. You seem more out of it that either of us."

Kathy laughed. "I've been trying to make him worry about himself every once in a while for years."

Jon rolled his eyes and laid back with a huff. "That won't ever happen. Not while I'm-."

"A boy scout?" Both Kathy and Sesha interrupted at the same time.

The two young women glanced at each other and then Kathy started to laugh. Sesha held her eyes on the other girl for a moment before chuckling herself.

"We're almost ready to go," Robin said.

"How the hells!?" Sesha shouted as she turned to look at him as he appeared from the corn stalks.

Jon and Kathy weren't as startled. "Long time no see, Damian," Kathy called, waving to the Boy Wonder past Sesha.

Damian looked over at her and actually smirked. "Yeah. I've been too busy protecting more than just this quaint little town."

"More like too busy keeping your head up your ass," Kathy shot back with a chuckle.

Damian shook his head and turned around. "Come on you guys," he said. "There are only two left and then Constantine can erase all of their memories."

"Yeah, yeah," Sesha sighed and got to her feet.

Kathy and Jon got to her feet to follow. Or at least Jon did. Kathy stayed behind and said, "Is it okay if I borrow Sesha for a bit? For some girl talk."

"Huh?" Jon's brow furrowed as he looked between the two girls beside him.

Robin raised a brow and then glanced at Jon with a knowing smirk. Then he shook his head, grabbed Jon by the shoulder, and helped to steer him away from the two girls.

"Just don't take too long," Robin called over his shoulder as Jon hid a red face.

"And no eavesdropping!" Kathy shouted back.

After watching Robin be carried off by Jon (they could feel his discomfort even at the great distance and his supposed mental fortitude), Kathy turned towards Sesha.

"So," the blonde started with a coy smile, "you finally kissed him."

"Oh, fuck," Sesha instantly groaned and put a hand to her forehead. "We are talking about it."

"Why wouldn't we? He talked about it with me just a while ago," Kathy shrugged.

Sesha's hand slowly left her face. "He did?" She asked with little attempt to hide her surprise.

"Why is it so odd?" Kathy asked. "I just want to make sure my best friend doesn't make stupid mistakes with his heart."

"But you're-!" Sesha started with a shout before the other girl put a finger up to silence her.

Kathy sighed. "I know that I'm his ex-girlfriend," she sighed, looking away from Sesha, "but we ended it amicably. I won't stop being his best friend like I was before. I just want to make sure he doesn't make the same mistake with me again."

"How do you know he isn't?" Sesha said in a downtrodden tone.

"Are you kidding?" Kathy crossed her arms. "Because he talks about you all the damn time."

"He does?" Sesha raised an eyebrow skeptically, crossing her own arms.

"Okay that may be a bit of a hyperbole 'cause he catches me up on all of his friends," Kathy admits as she waves one of her hands as if to brush Sesha's doubt aside. "But when he talks about you? I can just tell, even without my psionics."

Sesha was stunned silent for a long moment. Finally, after contemplating her words for another pause, she walked a few steps toward Kathy and held a hand out.

The blonde looked down at the outstretched hand and then up to meet Sesha's eyes. With a smile she took the offered hand and they shook them.

"Take care of him," Kathy said. "He may be invulnerable but I'm sure we both know how much trouble he gets himself in."

"You can say that again," Sesha laughed. "Did you see him after that one time he held up that whole building by himself and told everyone else to evacuate it instead of help him carry it?"

Kathy laughed, continuing the conversation they walked, and then flew, towards the town where the others were waiting.

* * *

Willow could all but feel a vein in her forehead bulging as she focused on the mutilated, blood-red tree. She grunted from the effort, but despite her powers it remained a tree.

"I can't do it!" she finally cried and fell to her knees. At the other tree Desiree gasped and her green skin glistened with sweat at the strain. Sesha walked over to her sisters and helped them to their feet.

"Why are these two so stubborn?" Constantine grumbled.

"Because . . . I wanted them to suffer," Tefé said as she walked up alongside Swamp Thing, a pair of Robin's cuffs on her wrists. Everyone's eyes turned to her and she seemed to shrink under all of their gazes, a stark contrast to the girl that had been taking on most of them on in a fight earlier. "He was my boyfriend and she was my best friend. I found them kissing right before we going to the dance that was supposed to happen after school."

Sesha's eyes widened as a silent rage began radiate off of Tefé so intense her breath hitched, and she felt each of the twins on each side of her tense, no doubt feeling the same emotion.

Swamp Thing said softly, "We understand that they hurt you, but we need you to reverse this."

Tefé nodded and walked over to the pair of bloody trees. She extended her hands towards them and they quivered and shrunk. After thirty seconds where the trees stood two cowering teens huddled on the ground, a boy and girl, both with disheveled dress clothes.

While the two young adults looked between the many heroes in alarm, trying to ascertain what happened to them, Ulrich turned to Robin. "Those cuffs are just a formality, aren't they?"

The Boy Wonder only huffed.

The moment the two kids had their wits about them they scurried back away from Tefé in a panic. She didn't react or acknowledge them at all, merely turning around to walk back to Swamp Thing.

"Mary?" The boy asked. "Is that you?"

Tefé didn't turn back around as she answered simply, "No."

Constantine sighed. "What a mess."

He walked over to the two, ignoring as they tried to crawl away from his approach, and poked each of them on the forehead and they went slack like all of the other citizens.

"So that's that?" Kathy asks.

"Yep," Constantine confirms, "Once the spell is cast this night would have never happened."

"It will still have happened to me," Kathy sighed, "I need to get home and get some sleep."

She waved

As everyone was walking back to the mansion Willow nudged Tefé and said, "Who's Mary?"

The girl's eyes fell at the question. "Who I was. Or as I should say the girl I took the place of. When I first took her place everyone was congratulating me on recovering from my - _her_ \- coma."

"Oooh," Willow said slowly then went quiet.

Constantine stepped onto the porch of the mansion and opened the door, gesturing for everyone to enter. "Now that this is over with I can finish the spell and everyone will forget this happened," he said.

Everyone entered the mansion one by one until only Swamp Thing and Tefé were left. "But what about Mary?" Tefé asked, hesitating at the door.

"Everyone will remember what really happened to her," Constantine explained with an uncharacteristic softness., "And everyone will forget you."

Tefé nodded in resigned sadness and stepped past the threshold.


End file.
